Lad

lad, n. a boy: a youth: ( Scot. ) a lover:— fem. La .— n. Lad′die , a little lad: a boy.— Lad's love , a provincial name of the southernwood. [M. E. ladde —Ir. lath , a youth, champion (W. llawd ). Mr H. Bradley suggests that M. E. ladde , a servant, coincides with the adjectival form of the past participle of the verb to lead , the original meaning thus being 'one led in the train of a lord.']