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Meek vs Lithe - What's the difference?

meek | lithe |

As adjectives the difference between meek and lithe

is that meek is humble, modest, meager, or self-effacing while lithe is (obsolete) mild; calm.

As verbs the difference between meek and lithe

is that meek is (us) (of horses) to while lithe is (obsolete) to go or lithe can be (obsolete) to become calm or lithe can be (obsolete) to give ear; attend; listen.

As a noun lithe is

(scotland) shelter.

meek

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Humble, modest, meager, or self-effacing.
  • * 1848:
  • Mrs. Wickam was a meek woman...who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else...
  • * "Blessed are the meek , for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5)
  • Submissive, dispirited.
  • * 1920: , Main Street [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=432765822&tag=Lewis,+Sinclair:+Main+Street,+1920&query=+meek&id=LewMain]
  • What if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (US) (of horses) To .
  • lithe

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) . See also (l), (l).

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To go.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) lithe, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (obsolete) Mild; calm.
  • ''lithe weather
  • slim but not skinny
  • lithe body
  • *
  • She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe , polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  • Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber
  • the elephant’s lithe proboscis.
  • * 1861 , , page 125
  • … she danced with a kind of passionate fierceness, her lithe body undulating with flexuous grace …
    Synonyms
    * lithesome, lissome,

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (head)
  • (obsolete) To become calm.
  • (obsolete) To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) lithen, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

    (lith)
  • (obsolete) To give ear; attend; listen.
  • To listen to.
  • Etymology 5

    Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of (lewth).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland) Shelter.
  • * 1932 , (Lewis Grassic Gibbon), Sunset Song :
  • So Cospatric got him the Pict folk to build a strong castle there in the lithe of the hills, with the Grampians dark and bleak behind it, and he had the Den drained and he married a Pict lady and got on her bairns and he lived there till he died.

    Anagrams

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