lad

¹ American  

[lad] / læd /

noun

1. a boy or youth.

2. Informal. a familiar or affectionate term of address for a man; chap.

3. British Horseracing Informal. a stable boy.

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LAD ² American  

abbreviation

Psycholinguistics.

1. language acquisition device.

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lad British  

/ læd /

noun

1. a boy or young man

2. informal a familiar form of address for any male

3. a lively or dashing man or youth (esp in the phrase a bit of a lad )

4. a young man whose behaviour is characteristic of male adolescents, esp in being rowdy, macho, or immature

5. a boy or man who looks after horses

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Other Word Forms

• laddish adjective
• ladhood noun

Etymology

Origin of lad

1250–1300; Middle English ladde < ?; compare late Old English Ladda (nickname)

Example Sentences

When I arrived back at the training ground the following Monday, I was given all the medical data I explained about above, for all our lads who were away on international duty.

From BBC

I'm more the senior player and I need to mentor these young lads coming through.

From BBC

"I had reason to speak to a couple of lads who were exiting the game and were very jubilant, but were singing songs that could have caused real offence in Germany," she says.

From BBC

Chambers said: "The lads that started will be looking at the manager and saying 'we produced the goods tonight, can we get another opportunity at the weekend?'"

From BBC

Did the lad have some kind of premonition?

From Literature

Related Words

• fellow
• schoolboy
• youngster