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Lag vs Slow - What's the difference?

lag | slow |

As nouns the difference between lag and slow

is that lag is location while slow is someone who is slow; a sluggard.

As an adjective slow is

taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.

As a verb slow is

to make (something) run, move, etc less quickly; to reduce the speed of.

As an adverb slow is

slowly.

lag

English

Adjective

  • late
  • * 1592 , William Shakespeare, King Richard III
  • Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, / That came too lag to see him buried.
  • (obsolete) Last; long-delayed.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the lag end of my life
  • Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior.
  • * Dryden
  • lag souls

    Noun

  • (countable) A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.
  • * 2004 , May 10. The New Yorker Online,
  • During the Second World War, for instance, the Washington Senators had a starting rotation that included four knuckleball pitchers. But, still, I think that some of that was just a generational lag .
  • (uncountable) Delay; latency.
  • * 1999 , Loyd Case, Building the ultimate game PC
  • Whatever the symptom, lag is a drag. But what causes it? One cause is delays in getting the data from your PC to the game server.
  • * 2001 , Patricia M. Wallace, The psychology of the Internet
  • When the lag is low, 2 or 3 seconds perhaps, Internet chatters seem reasonably content.
  • * 2002 , Marty Cortinas, Clifford Colby, The Macintosh bible
  • Latency, or lag , is an unavoidable part of Internet gaming.
  • (British, slang, archaic) One sentenced to transportation for a crime.
  • (British, slang) a prisoner, a criminal.
  • * 1934 , , Thank You, Jeeves
  • On both these occasions I had ended up behind the bars, and you might suppose that an old lag like myself would have been getting used to it by now.
  • (snooker) A method of deciding which player shall start. Both players simultaneously strike a cue ball from the baulk line to hit the top cushion and rebound down the table; the player whose ball finishes closest to the baulk cushion wins.
  • One who lags; that which comes in last.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • the lag of all the flock
  • The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the common lag of people
  • A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (engineering) one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, such as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or steam engine.
  • A bird, the greylag.
  • Usage notes

    In casual use, lag' and (latency) are used synonymously for “delay between initiating an action and the effect”, with '''lag''' more casual. In formal use, ''latency'' is the technical term, while ' lag is used when latency is greater than usual, particularly in internet gaming.

    Synonyms

    * (delay) latency

    Derived terms

    * time lag * jet lag * lagging jacket * lag screw

    Verb

    (lagg)
  • to fail to keep up (the pace), to fall behind
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Canto I
  • Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag , / That lasie seemd in being ever last, / Or wearied with bearing of her bag / Of needments at his backe.
  • * 1616 , George Chapman, The Odysseys of Homer
  • Lazy beast! / Why last art thou now? Thou hast never used / To lag thus hindmost
  • * 1717 , The Metamorphoses of Ovid translated into English verse under the direction of Sir Samuel Garth by John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, William Congreve and other eminent hands
  • While he, whose tardy feet had lagg'd behind, / Was doom'd the sad reward of death to find.
  • * 1798 , Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in seven parts
  • Brown skeletons of leaves that lag / My forest-brook along
  • * 2004 , — The New Yorker, 5 April 2004
  • Over the next fifty years, by most indicators dear to economists, the country remained the richest in the world. But by another set of numbers—longevity and income inequality—it began to lag behind Northern Europe and Japan.
  • to cover (for example, pipes) with felt strips or similar material
  • * c. 1974 , , The Building
  • Outside seems old enough: / Red brick, lagged pipes, and someone walking by it / Out to the car park, free.
  • (UK, slang, archaic) To transport as a punishment for crime.
  • * De Quincey
  • She lags us if we poach.
  • To cause to lag; to slacken.
  • * Heywood
  • To lag his flight.

    Derived terms

    * lagging * laggard

    See also

    * tardy

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    slow

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
  • * (John Milton)
  • These changes in the heavens, though slow , produced / Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}
  • Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
  • Not hasty; not precipitate; lacking in promptness; acting with deliberation.
  • * The Bible, Prov. xiv. 29
  • He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.
  • (of a clock or the like) Behind]] in time; indicating a time [[early, earlier than the true time.
  • Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
  • (of a period of time) Not busy; lacking activity.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * (taking a long time to move a short distance) deliberate; moderate * (not happening in a short time) gradual * (of reduced intellectual capacity) dull-witted * (acting with deliberation) dilatory, inactive, tardy, slothful, sluggish * (lacking spirit) boring, dull

    Antonyms

    * (taking a long time to move a short distance) fast, quick, rapid, swift * (of reduced intellectual capacity) prompt, quick * (acting with deliberation) hasty, precipitate, prompt * (lacking spirit) brisk, lively

    Derived terms

    * slow motion, slo-mo * slow-belly * slow burn * slowish * slowly * slow march * slowness * slowpoke

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.
  • To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.
  • To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.
  • * '>citation
  • After about a minute, the creek bed vomited the debris into a gently sloped meadow. Saugstad felt the snow slow and tried to keep her hands in front of her.

    Synonyms

    * (keep from going quickly) delay, hinder, retard * (become slow) decelerate, slacken

    Derived terms

    * slower * slow up * slow down

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
  • (music) A slow song.
  • Adverb

    (er)
  • Slowly.
  • That clock is running slow .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let him have time to mark how slow time goes / In time of sorrow.