loath
adjUK /ləʊθ/ · US /loʊθ/
Etymology
From Middle English lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“to do something abhorrent or hateful”). The word is cognate with Danish led (“disgusting, loathsome; nasty”), Dutch leed (“sad; (Belgium) angry”), French laid (“ugly; morally corrupt”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Icelandic leiður (“annoyed, vexed; sad; (archaic or poetic) annoying, wearisome”), Italian laido (“filthy, foul; obscene”), Old Frisian leed, Old High German leid (Middle High German leit, modern German leid (“uncomfortable”), Leid (“grief, sorrow, woe; affliction, suffering; harm, injury; wrong”)), Old Saxon lêð, lēth (“evil person or thing”), Swedish led (“bored; tired; (archaic) disgusting, loathsome; evil”).
Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.
- I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file.
- Then ſaid Faint-heart, Deliver thy Purſe; but he making no haſte to do it (for he was loth to loſe his Money,) Miſtrust ran up to him, and thruſting his hand into his Pocket, pull'd out thence a bag of Silver.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 166:
4 more examples
- Frankville, whoſe only Fault was raſhneſs, grew almoſt wild at the Recital of ſo unexpected a Misfortune, he knew not for a good while what to believe, loath he was to ſuſpect the Count, but loather to ſuſpect Camilla, yet flew into extremities of Rage againſt both, by turns: […]1722, [Eliza] Haywood, Love in Excess: Or, The Fatal Enquiry. A Novel. The Third and Last Part, 4th corrected edition, volume III, London: Printed for W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, J. Woodman, D. Brown, and S. Chapman, →OCLC, page 199:
- "And thereupon I pledge thee," said the young nobleman, "which on any other argument I were loth to do—thinking of Ned as somewhat the cut of a villain."1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 82:
- Of all the people in the world our countrymen are the loathest to give away their money without some reasonable quid pro quo; […]1868, [John Blaikie], “Schools and Schoolmaster, Churches and Parsons, Universities and Professors”, in The Old Times and the New, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 58:
- If I to wed the girl am loth / A breach 'twill surely be—1875, Arthur Sullivan (music), W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert (lyrics), Trial by Jury. A Novel and Original Dramatic Cantata, London: Walter Smith, […], →OCLC, page 15:
Obsolete Angry, hostile.
Obsolete Loathsome, unpleasant.
- Synonyms
- averse, disinclined, reluctant, unwilling
- Antonyms
- antonym(s) of
- Derived terms
- loathful, loathly, loathness, loathsome, loathsomely, loathsomeness, loathy, unloath
- Related terms
- loathe, loather, loathe-worthy, loathing