list

Meanings

Noun

• A strip of fabric, especially from the edge of a piece of cloth.
• Material used for cloth selvage.
• A register or roll of paper consisting of a compilation or enumeration of a set of possible items; the compilation or enumeration itself.
• The barriers or palisades used to fence off a space for jousting or tilting tournaments.
• 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.
• 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.
• A little square moulding; a fillet or listel.
• A narrow strip of wood, especially sapwood, cut from the edge of a board or plank.
• A piece of woollen cloth with which the yarns are grasped by a worker.
• The first thin coating of tin; a wire-like rim of tin left on an edge of the plate after it is coated.
• A stripe.
• A boundary or limit; a border.
• Art; craft; cunning; skill.
• Desire, inclination.
• A tilt to a building.
• A careening or tilting to one side, usually not intentionally or under a vessel's own power.

Verb

• To create or recite a list.
• To place in listings.
• To sew together, as strips of cloth, so as to make a show of colours, or to form a border.
• To cover with list, or with strips of cloth; to put list on; to stripe as if with list.
• To plough and plant with a lister.
• To prepare (land) for a cotton crop by making alternating beds and alleys with a hoe.
• To cut away a narrow strip, as of sapwood, from the edge of.
• To enclose (a field, etc.) for combat.
• To engage a soldier, etc.; to enlist.
• To engage in public service by enrolling one's name; to enlist.
• To give a building of architectural or historical interest listed status; see also the adjective listed.
• To listen.
• To listen to.
• To be pleasing to.
• To desire, like, or wish (to do something).
• To cause (something) to tilt to one side.
• To tilt to one side.

Origin

• From Middle English list, liste, from Old English līste ("hem, edge, strip"), or Old French liste, listre, or Medieval Latin lista, all from Proto-Germanic *līstǭ ("band, strip; hem, selvage; border, edge"), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leys- ("to trace, track"). The word is cognate with Dutch lijst ("list"), Finnish lista ("(informal) list; batten"), Galician lista ("band, strip; list"), German Leiste ("ledge; (heraldry) bar"), Icelandic lista, listi, Italian lista ("list; strip"), Portuguese lista ("list"), Spanish lista ("list, roll; stripe"), Swedish lista ("list").
• From Middle English list, liste, from Old English list ("art, craft; cleverness, cunning, experience, skill"), from Proto-West Germanic *listi, from Proto-Germanic *listiz ("art, craft"), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-, *leyǝs-. The word is cognate with Dutch list ("artifice, guile, sleight; ruse, strategem"), German List ("cunning, guile; ploy, ruse, trick"), Low German list ("artifice, cunning; prudence, wisdom"), Icelandic list ("art"), Saterland Frisian list ("cunning, knowledge"), Scots list ("art, craft, skill; cunning"), Swedish list ("art; cunning, guile, wile; ruse, trick; stealth"), and possibly Spanish listo ("clever"). It is also related to learn, lore.
• Short form of listen
• From Middle English listen, list, liste, leste, lesten, from Old English lystan, from Proto-Germanic *lustijaną, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz. The word is cognate with Danish lyste ("to desire, feel like, want"), Dutch lusten ("to appreciate, like; to lust"), Faroese lysta ("to desire"), Old Norse lyste ("to desire; to lust"), Old High German lusten (modern German gelüsten and lüsten).
• The noun sense is from the verb, or from Middle English list, liste, lest, leste, which is derived from Middle English listen, list.
• Origin uncertain; possibly from tilting on lists in jousts, or from Etymology 4 in the sense of inclining towards what one desires.