1. to fail to maintain a desired pace or to keep up; fall or stay behind: After five minutes of hard running, some of them began to lag.
2. to move or develop slowly, as toward a goal or objective, or in relation to an associated factor (often followed by behind): to lag behind in production.
3. to delay or fail in reaching full development: The factory lags regularly in making its quota.
4. to hang back; linger; delay: The old friends lagged because they wanted to talk some more.
5. to decrease, wane, or flag gradually, as in intensity: Interest lagged as the meeting went on.
6. (in video games) to experience a delay between player input or game signals and the in-game manifestation of that action, often due to high network latency: I’m lagging so hard that enemies are killing me before I can even attack them.
7. to throw one's shooting marble toward a line (lag line ) on the ground in order to decide on the order of play.
8. string (def. 33).

9. to fail to keep up with: The industry still lags the national economy.
10. to cause to lag.

11. a lagging or falling behind; retardation.
12. a person who lags behind, is the last to arrive, etc.
13. an interval or lapse of time: There was a developmental lag in the diffusion of ideas.
14. Digital Technology.
• the delay between a signal input and its display on a screen, as a high-definition television screen or LCD, due to latency in digital data conversion.
• (in video games) a display lag between player input or game signals and the in-game manifestation of that action, due to differences in display refresh rate or controller input: To make a competitive speed run, your best display option for minimal lag is still a CRT.
• (in video games) such a display lag due to high network latency: If you have an old computer or slow connection, lag makes multiplayer gameplay difficult.
15. the amount of retardation of some motion.
16. the retardation of one alternating quantity, as current, with respect to another related alternating quantity, as voltage, often expressed in degrees.
17. the act of lagging.

1. to send to penal servitude; imprison

2. a convict or ex-convict.
3. a period or term of penal servitude; prison sentence.

1. one of the staves or strips that form the periphery of a wooden drum, the casing of a steam cylinder, or the like.
2. a crosspiece between ribs in a centering.

3. to line or cover (an excavation) with lagging.
4. to cover with insulation, as a steam boiler, to prevent radiation of heat.

1. to hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc
2. to fall away in strength or intensity
3. to determine an order of play in certain games, as by rolling marbles towards a line or, in billiards, hitting cue balls up the table against the top cushion in an attempt to bring them back close to the headrail

4. the act or state of slowing down or falling behind
5. the interval of time between two events, esp between an action and its effect
6. an act of lagging in a game, such as billiards

1. a convict or ex-convict (esp in the phrase old lag)
2. a term of imprisonment

3. to arrest or put in prison

1. to cover (a pipe, cylinder, etc) with lagging to prevent loss of heat

2. the insulating casing of a steam cylinder, boiler, etc; lagging
3. a stave or lath

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