lid

UK/lɪd/US/lɪd/

nounA2+2 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,740 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: lids

A lid is the cover you take off to get at what is inside. The lid of a saucepan, the metal lid on a jam jar that will not twist, the plastic lid clipped onto a takeaway coffee.

A lid lifts, slides or screws on — if it swings on hinges and you walk through it, that is a door, not a lid. Lid is also the short form of eyelid: heavy lids, half-closed lids, a lash caught under the lid. The figurative uses all come from holding something down. You keep a lid on costs, keep a lid on your temper, and a reporter blows the lid off a scandal. Someone who flips their lid loses their temper all at once.

Definitions of lid

1nounlidThe cover that fits over the opening of a container and comes off or opens.A2+~98%
“He screwed the lid back onto the jar.”
- Said"Put the lid on or it'll take all night to boil."
- WrittenThe lids never matched the pans; over the years the pairs had quietly divorced.
- UsedLeave the lid off while the sauce reduces so the steam can escape.
- ContrastA lid, not a cover. A cover can be a cloth or a plate; a lid is hard and made to fit. cover →
- Not thisA cork is not a lid. A lid sits over the top; a cork goes inside the neck.
Patternput the lid on / take the lid off · a tight / loose lid · lift the lid on sth · keep a lid on sth
synonyms: cover, top, cap
2nouneyelidAn eyelid.B2~2%
“Her lids were so heavy she could hardly keep them open.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 10 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense (1 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

lid is a cover.

Remember it

LID → the pot's eye-LID, shut

The lid shuts over the pot the way your eye shuts at night: it keeps the heat in and the dust out.

Phrases it lives in

keep a lid on something — stop something from growing, spreading or becoming public
blow the lid off something — make a hidden scandal or secret public
flip your lid — lose your temper suddenly

Where it comes from

Lid is one of the old English words, barely changed in a thousand years. Old English hlid goes back to Proto-Germanic hlida and behind that a Proto-Indo-European word klitos meaning covered. The relatives drifted: German Lid is an eyelid, and Swedish lid is a gate.

Middle English
lid
English, today
lid

From Middle English lid. Middle English lid, lyd, from Old English hlid, from Proto-West Germanic hlid, from Proto-Germanic hlidą (compare Dutch lid, German Lid (“eyelid”), Swedish lid (“gate”)), from Proto-Indo-European ḱlitós (“covered”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱley- (“to cover”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in In the Kitchen, A Man Called Ove, Containers & Packaging

First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

lid in the wild

Lids can be placed on small containers such as tubs as well as larger lids for open-head pails and drums.
Lid
Radical 8 or radical lid, whose meaning as an independent word is unknown, but is often interpreted to be a "lid" when used as a radical.
Radical 8
The Sutton Hoo purse-lid is one of the major objects excavated from the Anglo-Saxon royal burial-ground at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England.
Sutton Hoo purse-lid
In 2017 the purse-lid was on display at the British Museum.
Sutton Hoo purse-lid
In these types of toilets a lid need not be used to cover the hole in the floor.
Pit latrine

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

lido

Definitions of lid

1nounlidThe cover that fits over the opening of a container and comes off or opens.A2+~98%

“He screwed the lid back onto the jar.”

Said"Put the lid on or it'll take all night to boil."
WrittenThe lids never matched the pans; over the years the pairs had quietly divorced.
UsedLeave the lid off while the sauce reduces so the steam can escape.
ContrastA lid, not a cover. A cover can be a cloth or a plate; a lid is hard and made to fit. cover →
Not thisA cork is not a lid. A lid sits over the top; a cork goes inside the neck.

Patternput the lid on / take the lid off · a tight / loose lid · lift the lid on sth · keep a lid on sth

synonyms: cover, top, cap

2nouneyelidAn eyelid.B2~2%

“Her lids were so heavy she could hardly keep them open.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 10 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense (1 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

lid is a cover.