lisp
verbEtymology From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in āwlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).
To pronounce the consonant ‘s’ imperfectly; to give ‘s’ and ‘z’ the sounds of ‘th’ (/θ/, /ð/). This is a speech impediment common among children.
- Until the age of 10, Dominic would lisp, but this was fixed by a speech therapist.
To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.
- As yet a Child, nor yet a Fool to Fame, / I liſp'd in Numbers, for the Numbers came.1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 122–123:
Archaic To speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.
- Lest when my lisping, guilty tongue should halt.1597, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “(please specify the chapter, poem, or subtitle)”, in Englands Heroicall Epistles, London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] Ling, […], →OCLC:
Archaic to express by the use of simple, childlike language.
- But the fashion spreads deeper and wider; the village is infected and the village green; Amelias and Claras sweep your rooms and cook your dinners, gentle Sophias milk your cows, and if you ask a pretty smiling girl at a cottage door to tell you her name, the rosy lips lisp out Caroline.1830, Mary Russell Mitford, “Cottage Names”, in Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery, volume IV, London: Whittaker, Treacher, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 68:
- to speak unto them after their own capacity, and to lisp the words unto them , according as the babes and children of that age might sound them againagain1848, Henry Walter, editor, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scriptures:
Archaic To speak with reserve or concealment; to utter timidly or confidentially.
- to lisp treason
- "You have done well, sir," said Delwood, calmly, as he placed double the amount of Mrs. Santon's bribe in the Signor's hand; "you have done well, sir; and mark my words,—gold can never relieve a guilty conscience! Go, sir, and see that you lisp not a syllable of this to any one."1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds: