[f. LOUNGE v.]
1. An act, spell or course of lounging; a leisurely walk, a saunter, stroll; also, a lounging gait or manner of reclining.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., II. 177. The gentlemen had arranged a morning lounge at Tattersall’s.
1824. T. Hook, Say. & Doings, I. 18. The disembarrassed lounge on her own ottoman.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xvi. (1859), 435. I am off to have a lounge with him.
1837. Lytton, Maltravers, II. i. I. 166. What else have we to do with our mornings, we women?… Our life is a lounge from the cradle to the grave.
1860. Thackeray, Roundabt. P., viii. Wks. 1869, XX. 85. ‘The Prince’s lounge’ was a peculiar manner of walking which the young bucks imitated.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxx. 405. When we went out for a lounge after luncheon.
1889. D. C. Murray, Dangerous Catspaw, 18. Esden had slackened his pace to a mere lounge.
b. A pastime. Also slang (Eton and Cambridge), ‘a treat, a chief meal’ (Farmer).
1788. Trifler, No. 21. 276. If … you have invented a new lounge, communicate it in your next.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, I. vi. I. 69. I don’t care for dinner. Breakfast is my lounge.
2. A place for lounging; a gathering of loungers.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, I. i. But pray, Mr. Fag, what kind of a place is this Bath?… Fag. … ’tis a good lounge.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb. (1833), I. v. 20. Every search for him was unsuccessful, in morning lounges, or evening assemblies.
1798. Monthly Mag., VI. 171. If a man were asked to take a walk into the High-street in a morning—‘He voted it a bad lounge.’
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., IV. 135. Her house … was voted to be the most delightful lounge in London.
a. 1865. Greville, Mem., II. (1885), II. 170. This is a great lounge, attended by all the people of the town.
1881. J. T. Slugg, Remin. Manch., xxvi. 306. The lounge or drawing-room … was extremely elegant.
3. A kind of sofa or easy chair on which one can lie at full length.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvi. 240. The graceful bamboo lounges were amply supplied with cushions.
1895. Mrs. B. M. Croker, Village Tales (1896), 46. The patient was promoted into a cane lounge in the sitting-room.
4. attrib. (‘suitable for lounging’), as lounge-book, -chair, -coat, -hour, -suit; cf. LOUNGING vbl. sb. b.
1800. Coleridge, in Sir H. Davy’s Rem. (1858), 82. I am compelled … to give a volume of letters from Germany, which will be a decent *lounge book, and not an atom more.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 25 Jan., 2/1. A sort of shudder sweeps over the limp forms in the *lounge-chairs. Ibid. (1898), 22 Sept., 8/2. Frock coats, and tail coats, and *lounge coats, and top coats.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXV. 311. A Boxing Match took place in Conduit-Street during the *lounge hours.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 25 Nov., 5/2. A navy blue serge *lounge suit.
