loch

noun

1. (Ireland, Scotland)A lake.

   “The greater part of Leuchars Loch belonged to the Inneses of Leuchars, Cotts to the Inneses of Innes; and while thus poſſeſſed, many unſucceſsful attempts to drain both, by canals, to the river Loſſie, ſeem to have been made. […] [A] very ordinary fall of rain raiſes it [the river] far beyond its natural bounds; and the immediate conſequence of ſuch floods, was, the ſpeat-water flowing into thoſe lochs, by the canal, and covering the adjacent meadows.”

   “But, enchanting as are the woodland banks of the quiet stream, there is to me a higher and yet more powerful charm in the solitary wildness or savage grandeur of the Highland loch.”

   “Mr. [James M.] Gale's scheme for doubling the [water] supply was carried through both Houses of Parliament, and was at once put into construction. It especially included the raising of the boundaries of the loch, and it brought into assistance and use other lochs in the Loch Katrine area; and Glasgow and its suburbs are now supplied with water as no other community in the kingdom is supplied.”

   “[…] Marmaduke Wetherell was hired by the Daily Mail newspaper to lead a search for the lair of the Loch Ness Monster. […] To everyone's surprise, within a few days of the start of his search, Wetherell came across a huge, four-toed footprint along the shoreline of the loch. This was just the sort of sensational story the newspaper was hoping for.”

2. (Ireland, Scotland)A bay or arm of the sea.

   “It is well known, for instance, that the superiority of the herrings caught in the inland sea-lochs of Scotland is owing to the fish finding there a better feeding-ground than in the large and exposed open bays. Look, for instance, at Lochfyne: the land runs down to the water's edge, and the surface water or drainage carries with it rich food to fatten the loch, and put flesh on the herring; and what fish is finer, I would ask, than a Lochfyne herring?”

   “Little Loch Broom is a NW trending sea loch situated approximately 10 km west of Ullapool[…]. The flanks of the loch are characterized by rugged headlands backed by mountains such as An Teallach to the south and Beinn Ghobhlach to the north.”

3. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of lohoch (“medicine taken by licking”).

   “We may obtain, then, a just idea of the constitution of this liquid [milk], if we look upon it as a soft, liquid substance, a kind of loch,^* in which caseine, sugar, &c., are dissolved, and in which the fatty or oily substance is distributed in small, rounded atoms. [Footnote *: Loch, or lohoch, is an Arabian name for a medicine of a consistence between an electuary and a sirup, and usually taken by licking.[…]]”

   “Uncle James had caught a cold too, so I went with Grissel; and found a chemist who'd been in France, and knew what a loch was and made one for me; […]”

   “[Rembert] Dodoens specifically recommends the preparation of a lohoch or loch – a 'licking medicine', of middle consistency, between a soft electuary and a syrup – for relief of obstruction, shortness of breath and an old, hard cough.”

name

1. A surname.
2. A town in Bass Coast Shire and South Gippsland Shire, southern Victoria, Australia.