lough

1 a long narrow (nearly landlocked) cove in Ireland

2 Irish word for a lake

Irish

Noun

1. A lake or long, narrow inlet (especially in Ireland)

Synonyms

• loch - used in Scotland, while lough is an Irish word

A lough is a body of water and is either:

• A lake.
• A sea lough, which may be a fjord, estuary, bay, or sea inlet.

It can also be used as a surname, with various pronunciations: law, loch, low, lowe, loth.

Lough is an Hiberno-English form of the Old Irish word loch, which means lake, or bay. The form loch is also used in Irish English and Scottish English. Lough is also used for some bodies of water in the far north of England.

Except when individually named, loughs are often referred to as lakes, fjords, estuaries, and sea inlets. Thus lake district and estuary bed may be used in preference to lough district and lough bed. (This practice is not followed to anything like the same degree in English use of loch.)

Irish loughs

seealso List of Irish lochs and loughs Almost all lakes in Ireland are named as loughs in their anglicised form. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the British Isles. The three on the River Shannon are Lough Allen, Lough Ree, and Lough Derg. Upper and Lower Lough Erne are two consecutive lakes in Fermanagh, an area often referred to as Ireland's lake district.

Sea loughs include Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle.

English loughs

seealso List of English loughs In the north of England, lough survives in the name of some bodies of water and other place names. Many of these are in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall, and also in the Lake District.

In surnames

Lough is itself an Irish surname, as well as being a compound in various other surnames, mostly derived fron specific Loughs, such as Loughan, Lougheed, Loughlin, Loughman, Loughnan, Loughnane, Loughney, Loughran and Loughrey.

See also

External links

• UKLakes Online Database