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Webster 1913 Edition


Loath

Loath

(lōth)
,
Adj.
[OE.
looth
,
loth
, AS.
lāð
hostile, odious; akin to OS.
lāð
, G.
leid
, Icel.
leiðr
, Sw.
led
, G.
leiden
to suffer, OHG.
līdan
to suffer, go, cf. AS.
līðan
to go, Goth.
leipan
, and E.
lead
to guide.]
1.
Hateful; odious; disliked.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
2.
Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant;
as,
loath
to part
.
Full
loth
were him to curse for his tithes.
Chaucer.
Why, then, though
loath
, yet must I be content.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Loath

LOATH

,

Definition 2024


loath

loath

See also: loathe

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

loath (comparative loather, superlative loathest)

  1. unwilling, reluctant; averse, disinclined
    I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file.
    • 1911, Jack London, The Whale Tooth
      The frizzle-headed man-eaters were loath to leave their fleshpots so long as the harvest of human carcases was plentiful. Sometimes, when the harvest was too plentiful, they imposed on the missionaries by letting the word slip out that on such a day there would be a killing and a barbecue.
  2. (obsolete) hostile, angry, loathsome, unpleasant

Usage notes

  • Often confused in meaning and pronunciation with loathe, a related transitive verb.
  • This spelling is about four times as common as "loth" in the UK and fifty times as common in the US.

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