loon

• IPA^(key): /ˈluːn/

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• Rhymes: -uːn

From Middle English louen, lowen (“rascal; rogue”), probably of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. Compare Dutch loen (“simpleton”). Or, related to sense 2, due to the bird's loud cry.[1] Folk etymology associates it slang-wise with lunatic, though the latter may have influenced it; see loony.

loon (plural loons)

1. (slang) A crazy or deranged person; a lunatic.
   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 67:

     An electric fire came next, followed by an umbrella and then a colander. "This bowl will carry no water," he muttered. "Some loon hath pierced it with holes."

   • 1971, Marc Bolan (lyrics and music), “Cosmic Dancer”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex:

     What's it like to be a loon? / I liken it to a balloon

2. (obsolete) An idler, a lout.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 149:

     The diuell damne thee blacke, thou cream-fac'd Loone: Where got'ſt thou that Gooſe-looke.

3. (chiefly Scotland, Ulster) A boy, a lad.
4. (chiefly Scotland) A harlot; mistress.
5. (chiefly Scotland) A simpleton.
6. (Ireland, historical) An English soldier of an expeditionary army in Ireland.
7. (traffic engineering) A round area of pavement that protrudes from one side of a road to accommodate turning vehicles with a wide turning circle.

• (crazy person): lunatic, psycho, wacko
• (round area of pavement): bulb-out

• loons, loon pants

• looney, loony, loonie

Common loon with chick

Of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse lómr (“loon”), ultimately imitative of the bird's cry, particularly when it's in danger. Distantly related to lament, probably sharing Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (expressive root).

loon (plural loons)

1. (US, Canada) Any of various birds, of the order Gaviiformes, of North America and Europe that dive for fish and have a short tail, webbed feet and a yodeling cry.
   • 1634, William Wood, “Of the Birds and Fowles both of Land and Water”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 31:

     The Loone is an ill ſhap'd thing like a Cormorant; but that he can neyther goe nor flye; he maketh a noiſe ſometimes like a Sovvgelders horne.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H. L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286:

     [O]h, yes! the loon does shriek dreadfully - particularly when there's fine rain […]

   • 1903, Zane Grey, Betty Zane, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC:

     He came again to her and she said: ‘Run swifter than the deer, be more cunning than the beaver, dive deeper than the loon.’

   • 1921, Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The Blue-Flag in the Bog”, in Second April‎:

     And I listened for a voice;— / But my heart was all I heard; / Not a screech-owl, not a loon, / Not a tree-toad said a word.

• (bird of order Gaviiformes): diver

• Arctic loon
• black-throated loon (Gavia arctica)
• great northern loon, common loon (Gavia immer)
• Pacific loon (Gavia pacifica)
• red-throated loon (Gavia stellata)
• yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii)
• loonie

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

• nolo

From Dutch loon, from Middle Dutch loon, from Old Dutch lōn.

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loon (plural lone, diminutive loontjie)

1. wage

• IPA^(key): /loːn/

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• Hyphenation: loon
• Rhymes: -oːn
• Homophone: Loon

From Middle Dutch loon, from Old Dutch lōn, from Proto-West Germanic *laun.

loon n (plural lonen, diminutive loontje n)

1. wage, pay, reward

• salaris

• arbeidsloon
• belonen
• hongerloon
• leefloon
• loondienst
• loonheffing
• loonkosten
• loonlijst
• loonslaaf
• loonstrook
• loonwerk
• loonzakje
• minimumloon
• verlonen

• Afrikaans: loon
• Negerhollands: loon

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

loon

1. inflection of lonen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

loon

1. plural of loo (“clearing”)

loon

1. Alternative spelling of loonna

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 276
• Olga I. Konkova, Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку‎, →ISBN, page 14

From Old Dutch *lōn, from Old Dutch *lōn, from Proto-West Germanic *laun.

lôon m or n

1. wage, payment for services or work
2. reward
3. value

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• lônen

• Dutch: loon
• Limburgish: loean

Dative plural of lô.

lôon ?

1. Borgloon (a city in modern Belgium)
2. Loon (a county)

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: Loon, (compounded) Borgloon

• “loon (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “loon (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “loon”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

From Proto-Cushitic, from Proto-Afroasiatic. Cognates include Hadiyya laro, Saho laa, Afar láa, Somali lo', Boon loy, Burji láli, Gedeo lalo, Awngi əllwa, Blin ləwi, Xamtanga ləwa, Iraqw slee, Kw'adza hleko and Maay hliŋé.[1]

loon

1. cattle

• Oromo Dictionary by Takilee Qinaaxxii

Uncertain, but compare English loon.

loon (plural loons)

1. (Doric) boy, young man