# list

Pronunciation: say "LIST" /lɪst/

## Noun

1. A series of items, names, or numbers set down or named one after another, usually in writing.
   - Simple: A set of names, things, or jobs put one after another, usually written down.
   - _The teacher posted a list of approved books on the classroom wall._
   - _Each candidate's name appeared on the ballot list in alphabetical order._
6. In computing, an ordered collection of data items stored together, such as the sequence of zero or more elements used in the Lisp programming language.
   - Simple: In computing, a set of items stored together in order, one after another.
   - _The function returns a list of all matching records._
   - _Each list in the program stores the user's recent searches._
8. A lean or tilt to one side, especially of a ship, or of a building away from the vertical.
   - Simple: A lean to one side, as of a ship in the water or an old tower.
   - _The tanker developed a severe list after the collision._
   - _Crew members noticed a slight list to starboard during loading._
10. (usually the lists) The fenced ground where knights jousted in a tournament.
   - Simple: The fenced field where knights fought each other in contests.
   - _Crowds gathered outside the lists to watch the knights collide._
   - _Two knights rode into the lists while heralds announced their names to the crowd._

## Verb

2. To write down or speak aloud a series of items one after another.
   - Simple: To write down or say a set of things one after another.
   - _Witnesses were asked to list everything they remembered._
   - _The catalog lists each item by its serial number._
3. To enter an item into a published listing, record, or directory.
   - Simple: To add something to an official list or record.
   - _Brokers must list the property before showing it to buyers._
   - _The directory listed every business in the county._
4. Of a company, to have its shares admitted for trading on a stock exchange, or to arrange this for its shares.
   - Simple: For a company, to start having its shares bought and sold on a stock market.
   - _The startup plans to list in London rather than New York._
   - _Once the firm lists, ordinary investors can buy its stock._
5. To grant a building of architectural or historical importance official protected status that restricts how it may be altered.
   - Simple: To officially protect an old or important building so it cannot be changed freely.
   - _The government may list the cathedral to protect its medieval carvings._
   - _Officials listed the factory after recognizing its industrial heritage._
7. Of a ship or other object, to lean or tilt to one side, or to cause it to do so.
   - Simple: To lean to one side, like a ship taking in water, or to make something lean.
   - _The freighter started to list as seawater poured into the hold._
   - _After its cargo shifted in the storm, the old freighter began to list to starboard._
9. Of a product: to be offered for sale at a stated price, typically the official figure its maker or seller has set.
   - Simple: For a product, to be for sale at a certain price, usually the price the company sets.
   - _Most of the company's blenders list for less than $100._
   - _The base model lists at just under $30,000, though dealers often add fees._
11. To listen, or to listen to something. *(literary)*
   - Simple: An old word meaning to listen or to listen to something.
   - _List, for the night wind carries strange voices._
   - _We paused beneath the eaves to list a while._

## Verb

12. To engage or enroll someone as a soldier; to enlist. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To sign someone up to serve as a soldier.

## Noun

13. A stripe or band of color crossing a surface. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A stripe or band of color on a surface.
14. A boundary or limit; the border of something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A boundary, edge, or limit of an area.
15. Art, craft, cunning, or practical skill. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Skill, cleverness, or cunning in doing something.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The selvage of a piece of woven cloth, or a strip cut from that edge and used as material.
- (noun) A slender strip of timber, especially sapwood, sawn from a plank or board along its edge.
- (verb) To cut away a narrow strip, such as sapwood, from the edge of a board.
- (verb) To edge, cover, or decorate something with strips of cloth, or to mark it with similar stripes.
- (verb) To prepare a field in furrows and ridges for planting, with a lister plow or by hoe.
- (verb) To enclose a field or area with barriers so as to create ground for combat.
- (noun) A small square molding, also called a fillet or listel, used as a narrow band in architecture.
- (noun) In ropemaking, a piece of woolen cloth used by a worker to grasp the yarns.
- (noun) The first thin coating of tin, or the wire-like rim of tin left along a plate's edge after it has been coated.
- (verb) To sign up for service, especially as a soldier, by putting one's name on the rolls.
- (verb) To feel like doing something or prefer to.
- (verb) To please or suit someone.
- (noun) A wish or longing, or what one feels inclined to do.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 9–10, 12–14** — This 'list' comes from Middle English lī̆st (band, stripe, hem, border, or a specification), from Old English līste (hem, edge, strip), Old French liste (border, band, list) or Medieval Latin lista, all going back to Proto-Germanic *līstǭ (band, strip, edge), possibly from a Proto-Indo-European root *leys- meaning 'to trace, track'. It is related to German Leiste, Dutch lijst, and Italian and Spanish lista.
**Meaning 15** — This 'list' comes from Middle English list (ability, skill, cunning, trick), from Old English list (art, craft, cleverness), from Proto-Germanic *listiz (art, craft), from a Proto-Indo-European root *leys- (furrow, trace, track). It is related to German List (cunning, ruse), Dutch list, and to the English words learn and lore.
**Meaning 11** — This "list" goes back to Proto-Germanic *hlustiz (hearing), which gave Old English hlyst (hearing). From that noun came the verb hlystan (to listen), which became Middle English listen.
**Meanings 7–8** — The origin of this 'list' (to lean to one side) is uncertain. It may come from the jousting lists, or from the old verb list (to wish) through the idea of inclining.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/list (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).