Other forms: logging, logs, logged
A log is a thick cut length of tree, ready for the fire or the sawmill. Put another log on, a pile of logs, chop logs.
It is bigger than a stick and rougher than a plank. A log cabin is built from them whole. The other main sense is a record kept over time: a ship's log, a flight log, keep a log of every call. From it come log in and log out, which came from writing your name in a book on arrival, and logbook, which in Britain also means a vehicle registration document. Note sleep like a log.
1nounlogA thick cut piece of tree.
“There is a basket of logs by the fire.”
2nounkeptA record kept over time.
“The log shows every entry to the building.”
3verbofficiallyTo record something officially.
“Every complaint is logged and about half are answered.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
log is a piece of wood, or a record.
Middle English logge is of uncertain origin, possibly Norse. The record sense comes from the log line — a wooden log thrown overboard on a knotted rope to measure a ship's speed, and the book that recorded the readings.
Middle English
logge
English, today
log
Built from
From Middle English logge. From Middle English logge, logg (first recorded in Anglo-Latin as loggum), of unknown origin, but probably from Old Norse lóg, lág (“felled tree, log”), derived from Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). If so, then cognate with Norwegian låg (“fallen tree”), Dutch loog (“wood, timber, lumber”). Alternatively, directly from Norwegian låg (“fallen tree”), which could have been borrowed through the Norwegian timber trade. However the Old Norse/Middle Norwegian vowel is long while Middle English vowel is short.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA