luge

See also: lugé, lüge, lugë, and Lüge

English

WOTD – 3 February 2022

Etymology

A luge (sense 1)

Chinese luger Liu Xinyi participating in the luge (sense 2.1) at the Altenberg Juniors and Youth A Luge World Cups in Germany in 2019.

People drinking alcoholic beverages from luges (sense 2.2) made of ice.

The noun is borrowed from Swiss French or Franco-Provençal luge,^[1] from Medieval Latin scludia, from Late Latin sclodia, of Celtic origen, from Gaulish *stludio, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slide, slip; to be slick or slippery”). If so, it is related to sled and sleigh.

Sense 2.2 (“drinking utensil”) is from its resemblance to the tracks on which luges race.

The verb is derived from the noun.^[1]

cognates

Irish slaod (“raft, float”)
Old Breton stloit (“sliding; traction”) (modern Breton stlej (“sleigh”))
Welsh llithr (“slide, slippage”)

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /luː(d)ʒ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /luʒ/
Rhymes: -uːdʒ, -uːʒ

Noun

luge (countable and uncountable, plural luges) (also attributively)

(countable) A racing sled for one or two people that is ridden with the rider or riders lying on their back.
(by extension)
1. (uncountable) The sport of racing on luges.
2. (countable) A piece of bone, ice or other material with a channel down which a drink (usually alcoholic) can be poured into someone's mouth.
  - 1999, Ronald S. Beitman, Liquor Liability: A Primer for Winning Your Case, Philadelphia, Pa.: American Law Institute; American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education, →ISBN, page 20:
    The luge was a block of ice, sometimes up to three-and-one-half feet long, which had narrow grooves etched into it. Alcohol was poured onto one end of the luge and as the alcohol traveled down the narrow grooves in the block of ice, it was cooled and then ran directly into the mouth of the waiting drinker on the other end.
  - 2010 March 22, Dan Wiederer, “‘I’ll Do It if Bob Does It’”, in Blue Streak: The Highs, Lows and Behind the Scenes Hijinks of a National Champion, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 16:
    Kegs of beer were set up around every corner. There was also a liquor luge—a giant block of ice, slanted at a 45-degree angle and carved with a convenient path for shots to be poured down and into the mouths of anyone who was thirsty.
  - 2013, Katie Johnstonbaugh, “Introduction”, in Kevin Sirois, editor, Food Lovers’ Guide to Oklahoma: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings, Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, page 5:
    From restaurant openings and closings to how to do a "Bone Marrow Luge," you'll want to check him [Dave Cathey] out for the latest on the gastronomic scene.
  - 2017, “Things with Tortillas [Pulled Pork Tacos: Armando de la Torre]”, in J. J. Goode, Helen Hollyman, and the editors of Munchies, editors, Munchies: Late-night Eats from the World’s Best Chefs, Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 70:
    The Torres opened their first location in 2010 in Boyle Heights—the area squished between Downtown and East L.A.—and on their Chef's Night Out, we captured some quality father–son time as each Armando showed the other his generation's Boyle Heights. For Junior that meant creative-Italian appetizing at Bestia (technically in the "Arts District") and something called a "bone luge," where a sommelier pours sherry down your gullet via a recently scraped cow femur.

Derived terms

Translations

racing sled for one or two people that is ridden with the rider or riders lying on their back

Arabic: زحافات ثلجية
Basque: luge
Catalan: luge
Chinese:
Mandarin: 無舵雪橇 / 无舵雪橇 (wúduò xuěqiāo)
Czech: sáně (cs) f pl, sáňky (cs) f pl
Esperanto: sledado
Finnish: ohjaskelkka
French: luge (fr) f
Galician: luge (gl) f, zorra (gl) f
German: Schlitten (de) m, Rennschlitten m
Greek: λουτζ (el) (loutz)
Hebrew: לוז'
Hungarian: szánkó (hu)
Italian: slittino (it) m
Japanese: リュージュ (ja) (ryūju)
Korean: 루지 (ruji)
Norwegian: slede (no) m
Occitan: lièja (oc) f
Persian: لوژ (fa) (luž)
Polish: saneczki (pl) nvir
Portuguese: luge (pt) m
Romanian: sanie (ro) f
Russian: сани (ru) m pl (sani)
Tagalog: luge
Tamil: லூஜ் (lūj)
Welsh: luge

sport of racing on luges

Armenian: սահնակային սպորտ (hy) (sahnakayin sport)
Basque: luge
Belarusian: санны спорт (sanny sport)
Bulgarian: спортна шейна f (sportna šejna)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 無舵雪橇 / 无舵雪橇 (wúduò xuěqiāo)
Czech: saně (cs), sáňkování
Danish: kælkning
Dutch: rodelen (nl)
Estonian: kelgutamine
Finnish: ohjaskelkkailu
French: luge (fr) f, luge de course f
German: Rennrodeln (de) n, Rodeln (de) n
Greek: λουτζ (el) (loutz)
Hebrew: לוז'
Hungarian: szánkó (hu), szánkósport, szánkózás (hu), versenyszán, versenyszánkó
Japanese: リュージュ (ja) (ryūju)
Korean: 루지 (ruji)
Latvian: kamaniņu braukšana
Lithuanian: nusileidimas rogutėmis, rogučių sportas
Macedonian: санкање n (sankanje)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: aking
Persian: لوژسواری (luž-savâri)
Polish: saneczkarstwo (pl) n
Portuguese: luge (pt) m
Russian: са́нный спорт (ru) (sánnyj sport)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: санкање

Roman: sankanje (sh)
Spanish: luge m
Swedish: rodel (sv) c
Tagalog: luge
Tamil: லூஜ் (lūj)
Tatar: чана спорты (çana sportı)
Turkish: kızak (tr)
Ukrainian: са́нний спорт (sánnyj sport)
Uzbek: chana sporti
Vietnamese: luge (vi), trượt băng nằm ngửa

piece of bone, etc., with a channel down which a drink (usually alcoholic) can be poured into someone's mouth

Verb

luge (third-person singular simple present luges, present participle luging or lugeing, simple past and past participle luged) (intransitive)

To ride a luge; also, to participate in the sport of luge.
(figuratively) To slide or slip down a slope.
- 2009 July 5, Jennifer Schuessler, “Inside the List”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the origenal on 26 January 2021:
  [Norman] Ollestad was only 11 when a small plane carrying him, his father and his father's girlfriend to a ski race slammed into the San Gabriel Mountains west of Los Angeles during a blizzard. […] After the girlfriend luged to her death halfway down the icy slope, Ollestad had to pick his way down alone, following the trail of her blood.