Also known as call-by-need. In programming languages, a function is lazy if it evaluates its argument at most once. Examples of lazy programming languages are Haskell and Miranda. (But Haskell is not actually lazy; rather its functions are non-strict by default.)

La"zy (?), a. [Compar. Lazier (?); superl. Laziest.] [OE. lasie, laesic, of uncertain origin; cf. F. las tired, L. lassus, akin to E. late; or cf. LG. losig, lesig.]

1.

Disinclined to action or exertion; averse to labor; idle; shirking work.

Bacon.

2.

Inactive; slothful; slow; sluggish; as, a lazy stream.

"The night owl's lazy flight."

Shak.

3.

Wicked; vicious.

[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

B. Jonson.

Lazy tongs, a system of jointed bars capable of great extension, originally made for picking up something at a distance, now variously applied in machinery.

Syn. -- Idle; indolent; sluggish; slothful. See Idle.

 

© Webster 1913.

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