English
slouch
Slouch may come from Middle English slugge ‘lazy person’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slugge‘lazy person’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1896slouch
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slugge‘lazy person’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1896slouch
Earliest quotation: 1896, Duncan Campbell Scott, In the Village of Viger: “[…] then he slouched his head down on the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *slakaz ‘weak, lazy’
through Middle English slugge ‘lazy person’
Today it means
noun A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English slugge / slouch