GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Found one definition
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Lake, n. [AS. lac, L. lacus; akin to AS. lagu lake, sea, Icel. lögr; OIr. loch; cf. Gr. λάκκος pond, tank. Cf. Loch, Lough.] A large body of water contained in a depression of the earth's surface, and supplied from the drainage of a more or less extended area.1913 Webster
☞ Lakes are for the most part of fresh water; the salt lakes, like the Great Salt Lake of Utah, have usually no outlet to the ocean.
1913 WebsterLake dwellers (Ethnol.), people of a prehistoric race, or races, which inhabited different parts of Europe. Their dwellings were built on piles in lakes, a short distance from the shore. Their relics are common in the lakes of Switzerland. -- Lake dwellings (Archaeol.), dwellings built over a lake, sometimes on piles, and sometimes on rude foundations kept in place by piles; specifically, such dwellings of prehistoric times. Lake dwellings are still used by many savage tribes. Called also lacustrine dwellings. See Crannog. -- Lake fly (Zool.), any one of numerous species of dipterous flies of the genus Chironomus. In form they resemble mosquitoes, but they do not bite. The larvae live in lakes. -- Lake herring (Zool.), the cisco (Coregonus Artedii). -- Lake poets, Lake school, a collective name originally applied in contempt, but now in honor, to Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, who lived in the lake country of Cumberland, England, Lamb and a few others were classed with these by hostile critics. Called also lakers and lakists. -- Lake sturgeon (Zool.), a sturgeon (Acipenser rubicundus), of moderate size, found in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. It is used as food. -- Lake trout (Zool.), any one of several species of trout and salmon; in Europe, esp. Salmo fario; in the United States, esp. Salvelinus namaycush of the Great Lakes, and of various lakes in New York, Eastern Maine, and Canada. A large variety of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), inhabiting many lakes in New England, is also called lake trout. See Namaycush. -- Lake whitefish. (Zool.) See Whitefish. -- Lake whiting (Zool.), an American whitefish (Coregonus Labradoricus), found in many lakes in the Northern United States and Canada. It is more slender than the common whitefish.
1913 Webster