Definition of "list"

list¹

/lɪst/

noun
plural lists
1. A strip of fabric, especially from the edge of a piece of cloth.
  Quotations
  1. Gent[leman]. Well: there went but a paire of ſheeres betweene vs. / Luc[io]. I grant: as there may betweene the Liſts, and the Veluet. Thou art the Liſt. / 1. Gent. And thou the Veluet. Thou art good Veluet; thou'rt a three pild-piece I warrant thee: I had as liefe be a Lyſt of an Engliſh Kerſey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French Veluet. Do I ſpeake feelingly now?1st Gentleman. Well, you and I are cut from the same cloth. / Lucio. I agree: just as the lists [scraps from the edge of the cloth] and the velvet are from the same cloth. You are the list. / 1st Gentleman. And you are the velvet. You are good velvet; you are a three-piled piece, I'll bet. I would willingly be a list of an English kersey, than be full of piles [haemorrhoids], as you are piled, like a French velvet. Do I speak feelingly now?
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 62, column 1, lines 27–34
  Why should we not send a message out over London which would attract to us anyone who might still be alive? I ran across, and pulling at the list-covered rope, I was surprised to find how difficult it was to swing the bell.
  1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton
2. Material used for cloth selvage.
  Quotations
  Previous to the offering up of prayer, however, the persons chosen for this office [of praying for the people] had divested themselves of their boots and put on list slippers, their hands being washed by "the descendants of Levi" at a basin near the Holy of Holies.
  1871 September 18, “The Jewish New Year”, in The Jewish Herald: A Record of Christian Effort for the Salvation of Israel, London: John Snow & Co., […]; and the British Society [for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews], […], published 1 November 1871, page 174
  "How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine left to traces with her muddy boots?" / "I am glad you raise the point. It occurred to me at the time. The charwomen are in the habit of taking off their boots at the commissionaire's office, and putting on list slippers."
  1893, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Naval Treaty”, in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt; republished London: John Murray, […], January 1950, page 255
3. A register or roll of paper consisting of a compilation or enumeration of a set of possible items; the compilation or enumeration itself.
  Quotations
  Natures that haue much Heat, and great and violent deſires and Perturbations, are not ripe for Action, till they haue paſſed the Meridian of their yeares: As it was with Iulius Cæſar, and Septimius Seuerus. […] And yet he [Septimus Severus] was the Ableſt Emperour, almoſt, of all the Liſt.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age. XLII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, pages 247–248
  "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?"
  1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], pages 11–12
  Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. […] Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism. Dr Yoshimoto and his colleagues would like to add liver cancer to that list.
  2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut: How microbes promote liver cancer in the overweight”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–73
4. (in the plural, historical) The barriers or palisades used to fence off a space for jousting or tilting tournaments.
  Quotations
  On pain of death, no person be so boldOr daring-hardy as to touch the lists,Except the marshal and such officersAppointed to direct these fair designs.
  1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene 3]
  With Truncheon tip'd with Iron head, / The Warrior to the Lists [he] led; […]
  1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, canto II, page 32
  Ariſe, O Father of the Trojan State! / The Nations call, thy joyful People wait, / To ſeal the Truce and end the dire Debate. / Paris thy Son, and Sparta’s King advance, / In meaſur’d Liſts to toſs the weighty Lance; […]
  1715, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book III”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], page 16, lines 319–323
  William de Wyvil, and Stephen de Martival, […] armed at all points, rode up and down the lists to enforce and preserve good order among the spectators.
  1820, Walter Scott, chapter VIII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], page 139
  They ran down to the lists and Peter came outside the ropes to meet them, his face red and sweaty, his chest heaving.
  1951, C. S. Lewis, “Chapter 14. How All Were Very Busy”, in Prince Caspian
5. (in the plural, military, historical) The scene of a military contest; the ground or field of combat; an enclosed space that serves as a battlefield; the site of a pitched battle.
6. (computing, programming) A codified representation of a list used to store data or in processing; especially, in the Lisp programming language, a data structure consisting of a sequence of zero or more items.
  Quotations
  Lisp is an applicative language. This means that it is structured around applying functions (operations) to a linked list of arguments that accompany those functions. […] A function call or function definition is only coded in the syntax of a list, which can be of an indefinite length. Thus, the list is the only data structure for a Lisp program.
  1985 March 10, Ed Acly, “A Tale of Three Languages: C, Ada & Lisp”, in Computerworld: The Newsweekly for the Computer Community, volume XIX, number 12, Framingham, Mass.: CW Communications, page ID/10, columns 1–2
7. (architecture) A little square moulding; a fillet or listel.
  Quotations
  STRIÆ, in ancient architecture, the liſts, fillets or rays which ſeparate the ſtriges or flutings of columns.
  1788, [John Carter], “STRIÆ”, in The Builder’s Magazine: Or, A Universal Dictionary for Architects, Carpenters, Masons, Bricklayers, &c. […], new edition, London: Printed for E. Newbery, […], page 284
  A volute is a kind of spiral scroll, used in the Ionic and Composite capitals, of which it makes the principal characteristic and ornament. […] There are several diversities practised in the volute. In some, the list or edge, throughout all the circumvolutions, is in the same line or plane. […] [I]n others, the canal or one circumvolution is detached from the list of another by a vacuity or aperture.
  1876, Edward Shaw, Thomas W, page 22, column 2
8. (carpentry) A narrow strip of wood, especially sapwood, cut from the edge of a board or plank.
9. (ropemaking) A piece of woollen cloth with which the yarns are grasped by a worker.
10. (tin-plate manufacture) The first thin coating of tin; a wire-like rim of tin left on an edge of the plate after it is coated.
11. (obsolete) A stripe.
  Quotations
  Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back.
  1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Same [i.e., the Blacknesse of Negroes]”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], 6th book, page 282
12. (obsolete) A boundary or limit; a border.
  Quotations
  [W]ere it good / […] to ſet ſo rich a maine / On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre? / It were not good for therein ſhould we read / The very bottome and the ſoule of hope, / The very liſt, the very vtmost bound / Of all our fortunes.Is it good / […] to place so high a stake / On the risky hazard of one doubtful hour? / No, it would be no good for we would read into it that we had reached / The end of our hope, / The very limit, the very utmost boundary / Of all our luck.
  c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, [Act IV, scene i]
verb
third-person singular simple present lists, present participle listing, simple past and past participle listed
1. (transitive) To create or recite a list.
2. (transitive) To place in listings.
  Quotations
  As the export market for tropical hardwoods expanded, timber from tropical rain forests very rapidly became the dominant or major forest product, dominant to such an extent that trade figures often do not even list the minor forest products exported, or their value.
  1993, Ooi Jin Bee, “The Tropical Rain Forest: Patterns of Exploitation and Trade”, in Tropical Deforestation: The Tyranny of Time, Singapore: Singapore University Press, page 62
3. (transitive) To sew together, as strips of cloth, so as to make a show of colours, or to form a border.
4. (transitive) To cover with list, or with strips of cloth; to put list on; to stripe as if with list.
  Quotations
  He raised his eyes and saw / The tree that shone white-listed thro' the gloom.
  1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], page 142
5. (transitive, agriculture) To plough and plant with a lister.
6. (transitive, agriculture, chiefly Southern US) To prepare (land) for a cotton crop by making alternating beds and alleys with a hoe.
7. (transitive, carpentry) To cut away a narrow strip, as of sapwood, from the edge of.
8. (transitive, military) To enclose (a field, etc.) for combat.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To engage a soldier, etc.; to enlist.
  Quotations
  […] It is therefore ordered that the Maior and Aldermen of Colchester [et al.], shall forthwith procure and raise in the said severall townes, and other pleces adjacent, two thousand horses for dragooners, or as manie as possible they may, for the service as aforesaid, and with all possible speed to send them up to London unto Thomas Browne Grocer, and Maximilian Beard Girdler, by us appointed to list horses for the service aforesaid; […]
  1642 October 28, [Philip Morant], History and Antiquities of the Borough of Colchester, in the County of Essex. […], Colchester, Essex: Printed and sold by I. Marsden, [...], published 1810, pages 48–49
  "I have a gun, madam," said little Julian, "and the park-keeper is to teach me how to fire it next year." / "I will list you for my soldier, then," said the Countess.
  1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., page 107
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To engage in public service by enrolling one's name; to enlist.
11. To give a building of architectural or historical interest listed status; see also the adjective listed.
  Quotations
  A century later, BR demolished the downside main buildings, so the eastbound and central platforms were promptly listed - which has ensured their survival, albeit increasingly neglected in recent years. This has now been rectified, [...].
  2021 February 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The London Underground Operational Enhancement Award: Hanwell”, in RAIL, number 946, page 55

list²

/lɪst/

noun
uncountable
1. (archaic) Art; craft; cunning; skill.
  Quotations
  In discussing the Syllabus and the last dogma of 1870, so much must be allowed for Italian list and cunning, or a word-fence. An Englishman, with his matter-of-fact way of putting things, is no match for these gentry.
  1877 November 16, “Vaticanism”, in The Literary World. Choice Readings from the Best New Books, and Critical Reviews, volume XVI, number 420 (New Series), London: James Clarke & Co., […], page 313, column 3
  Sophos, fab[le] 40. "The foxes had heard that the fowls were sick, and went to see them decked in peacock's feathers; said of men who speak friendly, but only with list or cunning within."
  1893, S[olomon] C[aesar] Malan, chapter XXVI, in Original Notes on the Book of Proverbs. Mostly from Eastern Writings, volumes III (Ch. xxi.–xxxi.), London: Williams and Norgate, […], page 349
  For when the guileful monster smiled / Snakes left their holes and hissed,— / And stroking soft his silken beard / Raised creatures full of list.
  1897, Lilian Winser, “Lossenbury Woods”, in Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent, London: Elkin Mathews, […], page 44
  'The general bass, in its fixed lines, is taken by surprise and overwhelmed by List [[Franz] Liszt]' (List = cunning); anonymous lithograph (c 1842).
  1990, Alexander L. Ringer, “The Rise of Urban Musical Life between the Revolutions, 1789–1848”, in Alexander [L.] Ringer, editor, The Early Romantic Era: Between Revolutions: 1789 and 1848 (Man and Music; 6), Basingstoke, Hampshire, London: The Macmillan Press, figure 13, caption, page 22
  [Der] Pleier […] provides a 'courtly corrective' to Daniel in the shape of his hero, Garel. The latter wins his fight not by list but through straightforward knightly prowess, […]
  1992, Reading Medieval Studies: Annual Proceedings of the Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies in the University of Reading, [Reading, Berkshire]: Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Reading, page 92
  It is worth noting that, contrary to Alexios who according to his daughter did not scruple to use any tricks to achieve his goal, Manuel [I Komnenos], as depicted by [John] Kinnamos, preferred "to win by war rather than by list" […].
  2000, Jakov Ljubarskij, “John Kinnamos as a Writer”, in Cordula Scholz, Georgios Makris, editors, ΠΟΛΥΠΛΕΥΡΟΣ ΝΟΥΣ Saur, footnote 11, page 166
  One man can accomplish with list (magic), that which a thousand could not accomplish, regardless of how strong they were.
  2008, Jon B. Sherman, The Magician in Medieval German Literature (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Urbana, Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

list³

/lɪst/

verb
third-person singular simple present lists, present participle listing, simple past and past participle list
1. (intransitive, poetic) To listen.
  Quotations
  2 [Soldier] Peace, what noiſe? / 1 [Soldier] Liſt liſt. / 2 Hearke. / 1 Music i' th' Ayre.
  c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 359, column 1
  We list to the trumpings that herald the storm, / To the roll of the drum, and the order to form!
  1860–1861, “What of the Night?”, in Frank Moore, editor, The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, etc., volume II, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam, […], published 1862, page 96, column 1
  Be of good cheer, and list to what I speak.
  1865, Sophocles, “Philoctetes”, in E[dward] H[ayes] Plumptre, transl., The Tragedies of Sophocles: A New Translation, with a Biographical Essay, volume II, London, New York, N.Y.: Alexander Strahan, publisher, page 247, line 1267
2. (transitive, poetic) To listen to.
  Quotations
  Then way what loſſe your honor may ſuſtaine / If with too credent eare you liſt his ſongs / Or looſe your hart, or your chaſt treaſure open / To his vnmaſtred importunity.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, [Act I, scene iii]

list⁴

/lɪst/

verb
third-person singular simple present lists, present participle listing, simple past and past participle listed
1. (transitive, archaic) To desire, like, or wish (to do something).
  Quotations
  who liſt to lyue yn quyetnesby me lett hym bewareFor I by highe dyſdayneame made withoute redreſſeand vnkyndenes Alas hathe ſlaynemy poore trew hart all comfortles
  c. 1536-1542, Thomas Wyatt, “Yf in the world ther be more woo”, in Egerton MS 2711‎, page 63r
  If thou beeſt a man, ſhew thy ſelfe in thy likeneſs. If thou beeſt a diuell, take't as thou liſt.
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii], page 12, column 2
  The winde bloweth where it liſteth, and thou heareſt the ſound thereof, but canſt not tel whence it commeth, and whither it goeth: So is euery one that is borne of the Spirit.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], John 3:8
  What! would you have us truſt to what Chriſt in his own perſon has done without us! This conceit would looſen the reines of our luſt, and tollerate us to live as we liſt: For what matter how we live, if we may be Juſtified by Chriſts perſonal righteouſneſs from all, when we believe it?
  1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […]; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, page 206
  Ye are as gods, that can create soil. Soil-creating gods there is no withstanding. They have the might to sell wheat at what price they list; and the right, to all lengths, and famine-lengths,—if they be pitiless infernal gods!
  1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Unworking Aristocracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, book III (The Modern Worker), page 177
  Ye hold me as a woman, weak of will, / And strive to sway me: but my heart is stout, / Nor fears to speak its uttermost to you, / Albeit ye know its message. Praise or blame, / Even as ye list,—I reck not of your words.
  1881, Aeschylus, “Agamemnon”, in E[dmund] D[oidge] A[nderson] Morshead, transl., The House of Atreus: Being The Agamemnon, Libation-bearers, and Furies of Æschylus. Translated into English Verse, London: Simpkin and Marshall, […]; Winchester, Hampshire: Warren and Son, […], pages 65–66
  License consists in doing what one lists; liberty consists in doing in the right manner the good only; and our knowledge of the good must come from a higher principle, from above.
  1959, Leo Strauss, “What is Political Philosophy?”, in What is Political Philosophy?: And Other Studies, Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, page 51
  The spirit seemed to blow where it listed among a historically motley collection of Catholic theologians, Puritan zealots and American squires.
  1994, John [Wyon] Burrow, The Historian: The Magazine for Members of the Historical Association, London: The Historical Association, page 176, column 2
2. (transitive, archaic) To be pleasing to.
  Quotations
  Might then I depart, and dwell as listeth me, out of all the world?
  2016, Graydon Saunders, chapter 13, in Safely You Deliver
noun
1. (obsolete) Desire, inclination.
  Quotations
  I know too much: / I finde it, I; for when I ha liſt to ſleepe, / Mary, before your Ladiſhip I grant, / She puts her tongue alittle in her heart, / And chides with thinking.I know, [she talks] too much: / I find that, when I have desire to sleep. / Indeed, before your Ladyship I admit, / She keeps a little quiet, / And scolds me with her thoughts.
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, [Act II, scene i], page 24

list⁵

/lɪst/

noun
plural lists
1. (architecture) A tilt to a building.
2. (nautical) A careening or tilting to one side, usually not intentionally or under a vessel's own power.
verb
third-person singular simple present lists, present participle listing, simple past and past participle listed
1. (transitive, nautical) To cause (something) to tilt to one side.
2. (intransitive, nautical) To tilt to one side.
  Quotations
  Even a small camber one way caused the whole outfit to list alarmingly.
  2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 173

Definition of "list"

list1

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list2

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list3

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list4

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list5

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verb

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list¹

list²

list³

list⁴

list⁵