Pronunciations (3)
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/lɑː/
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/lɑː˥/
Pronunciation notes
- Hong-Kong
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ˌɛl ˈeɪ
Noun
A syllable used in solfège to represent the sixth note of a major scale.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
And now Mrs Waters (for we must confess she was in the same bed), being, I suppose, awakened from her sleep, and seeing two men fighting in her bedchamber, began to scream in the most violent manner, crying out murder! robbery! and more frequently rape! which last, some, perhaps, may wonder she should mention, who do not consider that these words of exclamation are used by ladies in a fright, as fa, la, la, ra, da, &c., are in music, only as the vehicles of sound, and without any fixed ideas.
A syllable used in solfège to represent the sixth note of a major scale. Sometimes syllable for both the third and the sixth.
Interjection
Represents the sound of music or singing.
- Examples
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"La la la la, I can't hear you!" Jimmy said, sticking his fingers in his ears.
More examples (1)
The only part Lucy had to sing was the interlude, which was a bunch of la la la's, and the last verse of the song, which was only four lines, and the chorus, which was just as short.
Interjection
Used to introduce a statement with emphatic or intensive effect.
Usage- Obsolete
Expressing surprise, anger. etc.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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More examples (1)
La, ma'am, what doth your la'ship think? the girl that your la'ship saw at church on Sunday, whom you thought so handsome; though you would not have thought her so handsome neither, if you had seen her nearer, but to be sure she hath been carried before the justice for being big with child.
“Oh, la! here come the Richardsons. I had a vast deal more to say to you, but I must not stay away from them any longer.”
"La, William, don't be so highty-tighty with us. We're not men. We can't fight you," Miss Jane said.
Adjective
Prefixed to the name of a woman, with ironic effect (as though an opera prima donna).
Usage- Ironic
- not-comparable
- often
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Following lukewarm on the heels of an article a few weeks ago, where (I paraphrase due to having filed the relevant copy in the recycling bin) Victoria Beckham made a "well-meaning" remark that the other Spice Girls might want to lose a few pounds, we now have a new incidence of La Beckham's scintillating and entirely well-meaning humour.
By judicious leaking, he also managed to make la Kirkpatrick and her associates look rather unsavory.
More examples (1)
(You have to wonder where la Wintour finds the time for all this styling: maybe it's a displacement activity to fill the void left by her failure to get the Democratic party into power?)
Noun
lad, kid
Particle
Placed at the end of a sentence in imperatives making it sound more like a request than an order.
Usage- Hong-Kong
- Colloquial
- Examples
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Sleep la!
Eat shit la you!
Used to tone down comments.
Usage- Hong-Kong
- Colloquial
- Examples
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ok la
Noun
the syllable naming the sixth (submediant) note of a major or minor scale in solmization
- Synonyms
- Broader terms