Lag
Verb
Pronunciation and accent: læg
Etymology: of uncertain origin. The English word lag (= the last or hindmost person) is the same.
Present third person singular: she/he lags
Indicative past, past participle: lagged
Present participle: lagging
Intransitively: to move in the rear of a group who is walking, flying, riding or translocating in any manner; this is, to be comparatively retarded, as from weakness, sloth or any other cause; to stay behind the one who is leading a locomotion; to fail to keep abreast with, or to reach, one being who is walking, flying, running, or locomoting in any manner; this is, to be a lagger
Synthetic synonyms: to trail someone who is leader or preceding; retard oneself. Caution yourself against them who synonymize lag with loiter and linger. This verb to lag does not connote necessarily a loitering in the lagger, but simply his relative position.
Antonym: to lead, go ahead, advance, precede
It may be approximately translated by rezagarse, in Spanish; rimanere in dietro, in Italian; rester en arrière, in French.
My steed, although tired, lags not as does thine. Pierce Egan (Robin Hood and Little John)
We were pricked with spears if we stumbled or lagged, threatened with death if we had not strength to go on. Frederick Marryat (The Privateersman)
He played with the children, heartened up the women; and when the men were weary, and lagged by the way, he sat him down on the nearest stones, and sang to us legends of our ancestors […], and starting up, we proceeded onward with resolution, and even gaiety. Jane Porter (The Scottish Chiefs)
[…] the Bedouin Kafilah, being lightly loaded, preceded us, and our tired camels lagged far behind. Richard F. Burton (First footsteps in East Africa)
They could fly very well, and now and then one followed the parent far out, calling sharply his baby "cheep" and trying to get close to her in the air. Often she turned, met and fed him on the wing, and then sailed on, while the youngster lagged a little. Olive Thorne Miller (Little Brothers of the Air)
[…] the girl who followed her lady kept discreetly out of ear-shot, and amused herself flirting with the single page who accompanied them; and the rest of the train, consisting of grooms, falconers, and varlets, bearing the hawks and leading the sumpter-mules, lagged considerably in the rear. Henry William Herbert (Wager of battle)
Birds lagged in their flight, flapped their wings convulsively […] John Grove (The Omnibus of Adventure)
[…] he pulled onto the main road, another car’s light shone behind him. […] He slowed, and the follower did, too. He slowed more. The car lagged enough to be conspicuous. Dorien Kelly (The Last Bride in Ballymuir)
***With the adverb behind, the construction is rather pleonastic:
Smallbones was tired out with the rapidity of the walk, and now lagged behind. The master desired him to come on. Frederick Marryat (Snarleyyow)
[Jefferson] tried to chase the ambulance; its sirens wailing and its red lights brightly flashing in the blackness of the country lane. But the faster the speeding vehicle went, the further and further the big town car lagged behind. B. P. Laz (A Promise Land of Plenty)
The camel-men lagged behind, in order to prevent my dromedary advancing too fast, and the boy's guide, after dismounting, would stride along in front of us, under pretext of showing the way. Richard Francis Burton (Personal Narrative… )
[…] she either ran ahead of him and prompted him, which vexed him, or she lagged so far behind that he lost the thread of what he was saying and became angry. Williams Dean Howells (The Story of a Play)
The signal sounded for fireworks. Off we ran to get good places. I cared more about women than fire-works, and lagged behind, seeing the masquers and half-dressed women running and yelling. Walter (My secret life)
The boys now started for their homes. Dick, Walter, and Hugh walked abreast, with their arms over each other’s shoulders, rattling off small talk at a great rate. Seeing that his presence was not very desirable to his companions, Guy walked ahead in a thoughtful mood of mind. The others lagged behind, so that when Guy arrived at the turn of the road leading to his own home, he found himself several rods in advance of the rest. Francis Forrester (Guy Carlton)
Many of the men, however, were so enfeebled that they could not keep up with the main body, but lagged at intervals behind; and some of them did not arrive at the night encampment. Washington Irving (Astoria)
***With the preposition behind, or after (before a noun or a pronoun designative of the preceder or leader):
The poor were out in their poor best, and the children strayed along the streets without playing, or lagged homeward behind their parents. William Dean Howells (London Films)
The heat was very great; so we took our time, and lagged behind the guide, though he carried our knapsacks. He was a quiet-looking elderly mountaineer, who appeared to walk very slowly; but his progress was great compared with ours, from the uniformity and continuity of his pace. Harriet Martineau in The People’s journal, v. 2
As he was about to turn his horse’s head to pursue his journey, Meg Merrilies, who had lagged behind the troop, unexpectedly presented herself. Walter Scott (Waverly novels)
[…] she saw not the shadows that lagged behind them. C. D. Burdett (Walter Hamilton)
Tralatitiously:
(Predicated of something incorporeal) to be comparatively retarded in its development, especially by comparison with another thing related, as if the one being retarded were behind another.
England was in political matters in advance of other Western lands; that is, it lagged behind other Western lands. Edward A. Freeman (William the Conqueror)
England rather lagged behind than was a leader in the race of discontent. James Anthony Froude (History of England)
The Colonies lagged behind England in the specialization of the plane maker for a number a reasons. Garrett Hack – John S. Sheldon (The Handplane Book)
Transitively:
(Predicated of an animated being who is locomoting in company) to lag behind (something or someone)
Antonym: to precede
These and a hundred other queries and plans so entirely occupied his mind that almost unconsciously he lagged the last of a large equestrian party which on that day were proceeding to view a remarkable Danish fort […] C. D. Burdett (Walter Hamilton)
Other English vocables derived from lag: lagger, lagging, lag (noun, adj.)