1. [n]  the act of slowing down or falling behind
2. [n]  one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
3. [n]  the time between one event, process, or period and another
4. [v]  cover with lagging to prevent heat loss; "lag pipes"
5. [v]  throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins
6. [v]  hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.
7. [v]  lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "The suspects were imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life"

1. \Lag\, a. [Of Celtic origin: cf. Gael. & Ir. lagweak,
   feeble, faint, W. llag, llac, slack, loose, remiss, sluggish;
   prob. akin to E. lax, languid.]
   1. Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy. [Obs.]
            Came too lag to see him buried.       --Shak.
   2. Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag
      end. ``The lag end of my life.'' --Shak.
   3. Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior. [Obs.] ``Lag
      souls.'' --Dryden.
   

2. \Lag\, n.
   1. One who lags; that which comes in last. [Obs.] ``The lag
      of all the flock.'' --Pope.
   2. The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.
            The common lag of people.             --Shak.
   3. The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a
      steam engine, in opening or closing.
   4. A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (Mach.), one of
      the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a
      cylindrical object, as a boiler, or the cylinder of a
      carding machine or a steam engine.
   5. (Zo["o]l.) See {Graylag}.
   {Lag of the tide}, the interval by which the time of high
      water falls behind the mean time, in the first and third
      quarters of the moon; -- opposed to {priming} of the tide,
      or the acceleration of the time of high water, in the
      second and fourth quarters; depending on the relative
      positions of the sun and moon.
   {Lag screw}, an iron bolt with a square head, a sharp-edged
      thread, and a sharp point, adapted for screwing into wood;
      a screw for fastening lags.
   

3. \Lag\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Lagged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Lagging}.]
   To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or
   loiter. ``I shall not lag behind.'' --Milton.
   Syn: To loiter; linger; saunter; delay; be tardy.
   

4. \Lag\, v. t.
   1. To cause to lag; to slacken. [Obs.] ``To lag his flight.''
      --Heywood.
   2. (Mach.) To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with
      lags. See {Lag}, n., 4.
   

5. \Lag\, n.
   One transported for a crime. [Slang, Eng.]
   

6. \Lag\, v. t.
   To transport for crime. [Slang, Eng.]
         She lags us if we poach.                 --De Quincey.
   

7. \Lag\, n.
   The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with
   respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the
   lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force
   (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating
   circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which
   produced it.
   

netlag