loud

• lowd (obsolete)

• IPA^(key): /laʊd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊd

From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin inclutus (“famous”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”). More at listen.

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. (of a sound) Of great intensity.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

   Turn that music down; it's too loud.

2. (of a person, thing, event, etc.) Noisy.
   • Bible, Proverbs vii. 11

     She is loud and stubborn.

   a loud party that went on all night

3. (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
4. (of clothing, decorations, etc.) Having unpleasantly and tastelessly contrasting colours or patterns; gaudy.

   a loud style of dress;  loud colors

5. (of marijuana, slang) High-quality; premium; (by extension) having a strong or pungent odour indicating good quality

• (of clothing, etc): garish, gaudy

• (sound): quiet, soft
• (person): quiet

loud (uncountable)

1. (slang) High-quality marijuana

• dank

From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde (“loudly”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūda, *hlūdô (“loudly”).

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. Loudly.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 4,

     Who knocks so loud at door?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 14, pp. 71-72,

     Unluckily that worthy Officer having, in a literal Sense, taken his Fill of Liquor, had been some Time retired to his Bolster, where he was snoaring so loud, that it was not easy to convey a Noise in at his Ears capable of drowning that which issued from his Nostrils.

• Ludo, ludo, ludo-, ould

From Old English hlūd.

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loud”)

From Old English hlūde.

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loudly”)