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Stern vs Lax - What's the difference?

stern | lax |

As a noun stern

is a star; a small luminous dot that can be seen on the night sky.

stern

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) stern, sterne, sturne, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
  • * (John Dryden)
    • stern as tutors, and as uncles hard
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.}}
  • Grim and forbidding in appearance.
  • * (William Wordsworth)
    • these barren rocks, your stern inheritance

    Etymology 2

    Most likely from (etyl) , from the same Germanic root.

    Noun

    (wikipedia stern) (en noun)
  • (nautical) The rear part or after end of a ship or vessel.
  • * , chapter=7
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Old Applegate, in the stern', just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the ' stern .}}
  • (figurative) The post of management or direction.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • and sit chiefest stern of public weal
  • The hinder part of anything.
    • (Spenser)
  • The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
    • Antonyms
    * bow
    Derived terms
    * from stem to stern * sternpost
    See also
    * keel

    Etymology 3

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bird, the black tern.

    • Anagrams

    * * * * ---- ==Mòcheno==

    Noun

    (m)
  • (l) (luminous dot appearing in the night sky)

    • References

    *

    lax

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (Killian)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) lax, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (laxes)
  • A salmon.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
    • The rules are fairly lax , but you have to know which ones you can bend.
  • * J. A. Symonds
    • Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax , in matters of the passions.
  • loose; not tight or taut.
    • The rope fell lax .
  • * Ray
    • the flesh of that sort of fish being lax and spongy
  • lacking care; neglectful, negligent
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Phil Dawkes , title=Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Prior to this match, Albion had only scored three league goals all season, but Wes Brown's lax marking allowed Morrison to head in their fourth from a Chris Brunt free-kick and then, a minute later, the initial squandering of possession and Michael Turner's lack of pace let Long run through to slot in another.}}
  • (archaic) Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.
    • Synonyms
    * permissive, lenient * loose, slack
    Antonyms
    * strict * taut, tight

    Noun

    (-)
  • lacrosse
    • ----