Forms: 4–6 logge, 7–8 logg, 6– log. [Late ME. logge; of obscure origin; cf. the nearly synonymous CLOG sb., which appears about the same time.
Not from ON. lág felled tree (f. OTeut. *lǣg-, ablaut-variant of *leg- LIE v.1), which could only have given *low in mod. Eng. The conjecture that the word is an adoption from a later stage of Scandinavian (mod. Norw. laag, Sw. dial. låga), due to the Norwegian timber-trade, is not without plausibility, but is open to strong objection on phonological grounds. It is most likely that clog and logge arose as attempts to express the notion of something massive by a word of appropriate sound. Cf. Du. log clumsy, heavy, dull; see also LUG sb. and v. In sense 5 the word has passed from Eng. into many other langs.: F. loch, Ger., Da. log, Sw. logg.]
I. gen.
1. A bulky mass of wood; now usually an unhewn portion of a felled tree, or a length cut off for use as firewood. In the log: in an unhewn condition.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xlv. 630. Þe frute þereof falleþ … but he be … itrailled wt logges [L. lignis] & yardes as it were a vine.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb. Club), 355. My Lord paied … [for] iij. lodes of belet, and iij. lodes of logges … xviij. s.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xlvi. 139. The hardy knyghtes … casted vpon theym grete logges wyth sharpe yron atte the ende.
1525. Churchw. Acc. Heybridge, Essex (Nicholls, 1797), 173. Paide to Adrewe of Braxted, for a logge 6d.
1540–54. Croke, Ps. (Percy Soc.), 44. If one of his hate, Byfore the logge or stone wold ley, His purpose shall cumme all to late.
1545. Rates Custom-ho., b. Dogion logges the hundreth peces vis. viiid.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 23 b. I was somtime a fig tree log, a block that serued for nought.
c. 1600. Day, Begg. Bednell Gr., II. ii. (1881), 38. Wol’t say I lye? thou hadst as good eat a load of logs.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. i. 17. I would the lightning had Burnt vp those Logs that you are enioynd to pile.
a. 1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., VII. Meleager, 253. There lay a Log unlighted on the Hearth.
1800. Colquhoun, Comm. Thames, i. 27. 250 of the Timber Ships are laden with Logs.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cvii. Bring in great logs and let them lie, To make a solid core of heat.
1857. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 196. The largest pine belonging to his firm … was worth ninety dollars in the log.
1900. E. A. Irving, in Blackw. Mag., July, 53/2. The smouldering ends of logs radiating from these centres of warmth gave forth a tingling smoke which filled the hovel.
b. fig. and in similative phrases. Said, e.g., of a vessel floating helplessly (cf. mod.G. log sein to float helplessly), of an inert or helpless person. † A log in one’s way: a stumbling-block, obstacle. To have a log to roll: see LOG-ROLLING.
1579–80. North, Plutarch, Annibal (1595), 1148. Anniball … knew that this great ouerthrow … would also be a great logge in his way.
c. 1600. Timon, I. ii. (Shaks. Soc.), 7. Thou logs, thou stock, thou Arcadian beast.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., V. iv. Wks. 1856, I. 137. The saplesse log, that prest thy bed With an unpleasing waight.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea, 213. In this conflict, having lost all her mastes, and being no other then a logge in the sea.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. xx. The flapping sail haul’d down to halt for logs like these!
1865. Daily Tel., 13 Nov., 5/2. The New York Daily News may have its log to roll and its axe to grind as well as other folks.
1886. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., II. vii. 59. I must have slept like a log.
1898. Daily News, 19 May, 7/6. Mr. Gladstone … pathetically remarked that he was now like a log.
1900. L. E. Smith, in Longm. Mag., June, 134. He raised the axe he was carrying and struck Bill, who fell like a log on the dusty road, the blood spouting from his wound.
c. Mining. (See quot.)
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (S. Staffordsh. Terms), Log, or Baby, a balance weight, placed near the end of the pit-rope, to prevent its running back over the pulley.
1881. in Raymond, Mining Gloss.
† d. See quot. (perh. confused with LUG). Obs.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 348. Log, a term used in some places for a cleft of Wood, and in some places for a long piece or Pole, by some for a small Wand or Switch.
† e. Phr. To hang upon the log: ? to be slow in finding sale. Obs.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., I. 106. Something sure is in it, that Impostors finde such quick return for their ware, while Truth hangs upon the log.
† f. In Old St. Paul’s, a block or bench on which serving-men sat. Obs.
1609. Dekker, Guls Horn-bk., iv. 18. Take héede in any case (as you loue the reputation of your honour) that you auoide the Seruing mans Logg.
1639. Mayne, City Match, III. iii. 31. I can show The prints where he sate holes ith’ loggs.
2. A heavy piece of wood, fastened to a man’s or beast’s leg, to impede his movements. † Also fig.
1589. Pasquil’s Return, B. Her Maiestie layeth such a logge vppon their consciences, as they ought not beare.
a. 1592. H. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 483. Wedlock, with wife and children clogs, The single life, lust’s heavier logs.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., III. 193. They [insane negroes] were kept in out-houses, chained to logs.
1843. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxviii. Here I am tied like a log to you.
1853. Marsden, Early Purit., 324. W. L. … was brought up before the same court with his chains and log at his heels.
b. A military punishment now abolished. (See quots.) Obs. exc. Hist.
1830. in Rep. Commiss. Milit. Punishments (1836), 312. The log … is a punishment … which cannot be sanctioned and is henceforth strictly forbidden.
1846. H. Marshall, Milit. Misc., 205. The Log.—This punishment consisted of a log, or a large round shot, or shell, which was connected to a delinquent’s leg by means of a chain; and he was obliged to drag or carry this about with him.
3. King Log: the log that Jupiter in the fable made king over the frogs; often used as the type of inertness on the part of rulers, as contrasted with the excess of activity typified by ‘King Stork.’
1675. Crowne, Country Wit, V. Dram. Wks. 1874, III. 114. Go, sir! manage him, whilst I handle Log, the second King of frogs, that follows him.
1761. J. Wesley, Jrnl., 18 Jan. The custom began in the reign of king Log.
1766. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 11 July. I have always owned a great regard for King Log.
1901. M. J. F. McCarthy, Five Y. Irel., xxiii. 320. They prefer King Log to King Stork.
4. pl. Australian slang. A gaol or lock-up. (Formerly built of logs. Cf. log-house.)
[1802. G. Barrington, Hist. N. S. Wales, 184. The governor resolved on building a large log prison both at Sydney and Paramatta.]
1888. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xxv. (1889), 193. Let’s put him in the logs. Ibid. (1890), Miner’s Right, xxx. 273. No bail allowed either, or of course you needn’t have been ten minutes in the logs.
II. Naut. and derived senses.
5. An apparatus for ascertaining the rate of a ship’s motion, consisting of a thin quadrant of wood, loaded so as to float upright in the water, and fastened to a line wound on a reel. Hence in phrases to heave, throw the log, (to sail or calculate one’s way) by the log. Said also of other appliances having the same object.
1574. W. Bourne, Regiment for Sea, xiv. (1577), 42 b. They hale in the logge or piece of wood again, and looke how many fadome the shippe hath gone in that time.
1644. Maywayring, Sea-mans Dict., s.v. Logg-line, One stands by with a Minut-glasse, while another out of the gallery lets fall the logg.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. ii. 146. We throw the Log every two Hours.
1686. J. Dunton, Lett. fr. New-Eng. (1867), 28. Being about 50 Leagues off the Lizard … we began to sail by the Log.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, III. 305. Heave the Logg from the Poop.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), A a 4. It is usual to heave the log once every hour in ships of war.
1805. Sir E. Berry, in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson, VII. 118, note. During the chace we ran per log seventy miles.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1834), I. xii. 156. It’s now within five minutes of two bells, so we’ll have the log and mark the board.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 178. Calculating their way by the log.
1876. Catal. Sci. App. S. Kens., 54. Patent Log, for measuring speed at sea; used in H. M. Navy.
6. Short for LOG-BOOK. A journal into which the contents of the log-board or log-slate are daily transcribed, together with any other circumstance deserving notice.
1825. H. B. Gascoigne, Nav. Fame, 79. Then down he goes his daily Log to write.
1850. Scoresby, Cheever’s Whaleman’s Adv., vi. (1859), 86. He is endeavouring … to fix the localities of whales’ resorts by a comparison of the logs of a vast number of whalers.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., IV. xviii. The captain sat down to his log, and here is the beginning of the entry.
transf. 1875. R. F. Burton, Gorilla L. (1876), II. 176. Had the writers lived, they night have worked up their unfinished logs into interesting and instructive matter.
b. (See quot.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Log (Steam-engine), a tabulated summary of the performance of the engines and boilers, and of the consumption of coals, tallow, oil, and other engineers’ stores on board a steam-vessel.
c. = LOG-BOOK 3.
1882. in Cassell.
7. Tailoring. [transf. from 6.] A document fixing the time to be credited to journeymen (who are paid nominally by the hour) for making each description of garment; the scale of computation embodied in this document.
1861. Dunn’s Tailor’s Labour Agency Retrospect, 13. What is technically called a ‘log’ is agreed upon, that is a certain number of hours for every description of garment, and the wages fixed at so much per hour.
1868. 10th Rep. Trades Union Comm., 17. We [operative tailors] wanted a uniform time-log. The masters prepared a time-log, and said to us, ‘Here is the log, you must accept it as it is.’
III. attrib. and Comb.
8. a. simple attributive, as (sense 1) log-end, -fire, -mark; (with the sense ‘made of or constructed with logs’) log-booth, -bridge, -chamber, -fence, † -guard, -hut, -road, -shanty, -tent, -trap, -way; (‘for use in dealing with logs’) log-boom (BOOM sb.2 4), -car, -chain, -railway, -sled, -sleigh, -stamp; (sense 7) log-prices, -shop.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 6 April. An addition to the wharf and a *log boom are being made.
1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 371. Two rows of weatherbeaten *log-booths.
1664. First Cent. Hist. Springfield, Mass. (1898), I. 316. Foure acres of low lands Northwestrly from the *logg bridge as it is called.
1881. Chicago Times, 11 June. The track upon which runs the *log-car.
1703. Providence Rec. (1894), VI, 224. i *Logg chaine.
1788. M. Cutler, in Life (1888), I. 401. We were turned into a hot, *log chamber, full of people.
1659. Gauden, Tears Ch. Eng., I. xiv. 122. The most heavy *log-end of Christs Cross is laid upon many of them.
1836. J. Abbott, Way to do Good, i. 24. They were stepping over a low place in the *log fence.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, 1. Praise the good *log-fire! Winter howls without.
1808. Ashe, Travels, I. 302. The town … has in its centre, the remains of an old *Log Guard.
1797. J. A. Graham, Pres. State Vermont, 161. As in a former Letter I mentioned the *Log Hut, I will here … give a short account of its construction.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right, vi. 61. Log-huts, with the walls built American fashion of horizontal tree trunks.
1859. Michigan Rep., VI. 270. The Mill Company had given a list of *log-marks under section eight of the act.
1888. Lancet, 26 May, 1049/1. Tailors … obtaining *‘log’ prices—that is, the highest rate of wages.
1857. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 125. A truck drawn by an ox and a horse over a rude *log-railway through the woods.
1819. F. Wright, Views (1821), 234. A *log road, or causeway, as it is denominated, is very grievous to the limbs.
1874. Green, Short Hist., i. § 3. 25. He made his way at last to a group of *log-shanties in the midst of untilled solitudes.
1899. Contemp. Rev., March, 382. There are quite a number of Jewish coat makers working for ‘private’ or *‘log’ shops.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 2 Feb., 89. He has constructed a road of ice … on which the *log-sleds slip along readily.
1893. A. Hill, in Scribner’s Mag., June, 706/2. The *log-sleighs have ten, twelve, and even fourteen-foot bunks, or cross beams, on which the load rests.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 5 Jan. Wyburn’s improved *log stamp is convenient for marking logs with the exact number of feet.
1748. H. Ellis, Hudson’s Bay, 154. Some of the People were employed in cutting Fire-Wood, others in building *Log-Tents.
1784. J. Belknap, Tour White Mts. (1876), 13. We saw the … *log-traps, which the hunters set for sables.
1779. in F. Chase, Hist. Dartmouth Coll. (1891), I. 562. To maintain said mills by repairing the present buildings … and also the *log way and necessary mill houses.
b. objective, as (sense 1) log-carrying, -driving, -hauling; log-cutter, -maker; (sense 6) log-reading. c. instrumental, as log-lighted. d. similative, as log-like adj., log-wise adv.
1898. Daily News, 16 June, 5/2. It is strange to hear that the aged poor are still at oakum-picking or *log-carrying.
1893. A. Hill, in Scribner’s Mag., June, 710/2. At night he must get from the *log-cutters their count for the day.
1879. Lumberman’s Gaz., 19 Dec. The dam will be used for flowage and *log-driving purposes.
1893. A. Hill, in Scribner’s Mag., June, 706/2. There is great strife between the teamsters in making *log-hauling records.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Gray-haired Dec., iii. The *log-lighted hall.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., I. v. Wks. 1856, I. 86. A chaine that’s fixt Onely to postes, and senselesse *log-like dolts.
1880. Lumberman’s Gaz., 7 Jan., 28. Next come the *‘log-makers,’ working in gangs of three or four, each with its ‘chief.’
1901. Blackw. Mag., Oct., 476/1. The modern navigator has buried the best part of his astronomy under a heap of dead reckonings and *log-readings.
1879. Browning, Halbert & Hob, 37. So *logwise … Was he pushed, a very log.
9. Special combs.: log-beam (see quot.); log-board, a hinged pair of boards on which the particulars of a ship’s log are noted for transcription into the log-book; log-butter, ‘a drag-saw for butting, i.e., cutting off square the ends of logs’ (Knight); log-buttings, the ends thus cut off; log-cabin, a small house built of rough logs; also attrib. (U.S.) in log-cabin quilt (cf. log-house quilting below); log-camp = logging-camp (see LOGGING vbl. sb.); log-canoe, one hollowed out of a single tree; log-chip = log-ship; log-cock, ‘one of the many local names in North America of Picus pileatus (Woodpecker)’ (Newton); log-crop, the quantity of logs hewn in one season; log-fish, a fish of the U.S. coast, Lirus perciformis; log-frame, ‘a name for a saw-mill’ (Knight); log-glass (see quot. 1858); log-head = BLOCKHEAD 2; † log-headed a., having a head like a log; log-house, a house built of logs; in early use (U.S.) applied to a prison; also attrib. in log-house quilting (see quot.); log-juice slang (cf. LOGWOOD 2, note], cheap port wine; log-knot, a knot made in a log-line to indicate a specified length; log-line, a line of 100 fathoms or more to which the log is attached; also the sort of line used for this purpose; log-man, † (a) one employed to carry logs; (b) one employed in cutting and carrying logs to a mill (local U.S.); log-perch, a freshwater fish, Percina caprodes, of N. America; log-pocket, a basin or pool in which logs collect; log-reel (see quot.); log-runner, an Australian bird of the genus Orthonyx (Morris); log-running, the operation of setting logs afloat down the side-streams, or conveying logs to the saw-mill; log-ship, also log-chip (see quot.); log-slate, a double slate used instead of the log-board; log-work, (a) the arrangement of logs in the walls of a house or other building; (b) the keeping of the log or log-book (sense 6).
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Log-Beam, the traveling frame in which a log lies and travels in a saw-mill.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. ii. 146. Next we will work the Courses of the *Log-board.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple (1834), I. xii. 156. O’Brien reported the rate of sailing to the master, marked it down on the log-board, and then returned.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Log-board.
1879. Lumberman’s Gaz., 15 Oct. A machine that would utilize … *Log Buttings.
1850. Lyell, 2nd Visit U.S., II. 427. The husband will fell timber, run up a *log cabin, and receive ready money from the steam-boats, which burn the wood.
1887. Amélie Rives, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 36/1. Reluctantly she slipped her book under the *log-cabin quilt and said, ‘Come in.’
1857. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 180. My companion inclined to go to the *log-camp on the carry.
1788. R. Putnam, in M. Cutler’s Life (1888), I. 379. Our whole fleet consisted of … three *log canoes of different sizes.
1841. G. Powers, Hist. Sk. Coos, 130. He took a log-canoe near where Cross lived, and ascended the river to the place where Orford bridge now is.
1846. *Log-chip [see log-ship].
1866. Intell. Observ., No. 53. 333. The *Log-cock (Hylatomus Pileatus).
1884. J. Burroughs, in Century Mag., Dec., 222/2. The log-cock, or pileated woodpecker … I have never heard drum.
1879. Lumberman’s Gaz., 7 May. The delivery of the *log crop of Michigan.
1884. Goode, etc., Nat. Hist. Useful Aquatic Anim., I. 334. The Black Rudder-fish—Lirus perciformis. This fish is also called by the fishermen *‘Log-fish’ and ‘Barrel-fish.’
a. 1814. Sailor’s Ret., in New Brit. Theatre, II. 319. As sure as a can of grog, or allowance, is only left but the time of a *log-glass, so sartain [sic] is to be purloin’d.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Log-glass, a half-minute sandglass used on board ship for timing the speed of sailing, by the quantity of line run out in a given time.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 100. Not being born purely a *Loghead (Dummkopf), thou hadst no other outlook.
1571. R. Edwards, Damon & Pithias, E iv. The *log-headed knaue.
1669. Maryland Archives (1884), II. 224. That there be a *Logg house Prison Twenty ffoot Square Built … in the Baltemore County.
1680. N. Carolina Col. Rec. (1886), I. 300. Ye Deponent saw ye sd Mr. Miller enclosed in a Logghouse about 10 or 11 foot square purposely built for him.
1741. Tailfer, etc., Narr. Georgia (1835), 24. He threatned every Person … who … claim’d their just Rights and Privileges with the Stocks, Whipping-Post, and Logg-House.
1836. Backwoods of Canada, 46. The log-house and shanty … [have] been supplanted by pretty frame-houses.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 379. This … pattern in Patchwork is one that in Canada is known as Loghouse Quilting. It is … made of several coloured ribbons … arranged so as to give the appearance of different kinds of wood formed into a succession of squares.
1853. ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, II. iii. Mr. B. and party are discovered drinking *log-juice, and smoking cabbage-leaves.
1860. in Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 114. *Log knots in these … ropes will teach the men the … length.
1613. M. Ridley, Magn. Bodies, 147. Observing the way with the *logge-line.
1644. Manwayring, Sea-mans Dict., A Logg-line. Some call this a Minut-line.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 94. The holes, for marling the clues of sails … have grommets of log-line.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Log-line.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. i. 67. For your sake Am I this patient *Logge-man.
1870. Daily News, 16 April, 6/5. The lumber business is carried on … by the logmen.
1882. Jordan & Gilbert, Fishes N. Amer. (Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., III.), 499. Percina, *Log Perches. Ibid., P. caprodes … Log Perch; Rock-fish; Hog-molly; Hog-fish.
1877. Lumberman’s Gaz., 17 Nov. A dam has been built across the river, forming a *log pocket.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Log-reel, the reel on which the log-line of a ship is wound.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 6 April. The Green Bay Advocate of March 28 says that *log-running is commencing all around.
1877. Michigan Rep., XXXVI. 168. It appears that the scale of the manufactured lumber exceeded the *log-scale.
1841. Dana, Seaman’s Man., 114. Log, a line with a piece of board called the *log-ship, attached to it.
1846. Young, Naut. Dict., s.v. Log-line, A piece of board called the Log-ship or Log-chip.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 43. The ‘log-ship,’ is a flat piece of wood in the form of a quadrant, having a sufficient quantity of lead inserted in the circular edge to keep it steady and perpendicular in the water.
1841. Dana, Seaman’s Man., 153. It is the custom for each officer at the end of his watch to enter upon the *log-slate … the courses, distances, wind and weather during his watch, and anything worthy of note that may have occurred. Once in twenty-four hours the mate copies from this slate into the log-book.
1721. J. Baxter, in New Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1867), XXI. 57. All Hands went briskly to work, to finish ye *log-work in ye Lower Block-house.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 3. Tedious accounts of their log-work, how many leagues they sailed every day; where they had the winds [etc.].
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 111. The chimney is … commonly of lath or split sticks, laid up like log-work and plastered with mud.
