1. A body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land.
2. A purplish red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal.
3. Any of numerous bright translucent organic pigments.
Body of still water lying in depressed ground without direct communication with the sea. Lakes are common in formerly glaciated regions, along the courses of slow rivers, and in low land near the sea. The main classifications are by origin: glacial lakes, formed by glacial scouring; barrier lakes, formed by landslides and glacial moraines; crater lakes, found in volcanoes; and tectonic lakes, occurring in natural fissures.
Crater lakes form in the calderas of extinct volcanoes, for example Crater Lake, Oregon. Subsidence of the roofs of limestone caves in karst landscape exposes the subterranean stream network and provides a cavity in which a lake can develop. Tectonic lakes form during tectonic movement, as when a rift valley is formed. Lake Tanganyika was created in conjunction with the East African rift valley. Glaciers produce several distinct types of lake, such as the lochs of Scotland and the Great Lakes of North America.
Lakes are mainly freshwater, but salt and bitter lakes are found in areas of low annual rainfall and little surface runoff, so that the rate of evaporation exceeds the rate of inflow, allowing mineral salts to accumulate. The Dead Sea has a salinity of about 250 parts per 1,000 and the Great Salt Lake, Utah, about 220 parts per 1,000. Salinity can also be caused by volcanic gases or fluids, for example Lake Natron, Tanzania.
In the 20th century large artificial lakes have been created in connection with hydroelectric and other works. Some lakes have become polluted as a result of human activity. Sometimes eutrophication (a state of overnourishment) occurs, when agricultural fertilizers leaching into lakes cause an explosion of aquatic life, which then depletes the lake's oxygen supply until it is no longer able to support life.

(Homonym: lock).
1. Scottish and Irish words for lake; SYN. lough.
2. A long narrow inlet of the sea in Scotland (especially when it is nearly landlocked) and in Ireland; SYN. lough.

1. (chiefly Irish) Lake
2. (chiefly Irish) A bay or inlet of the sea

(British) A small pond of standing water.
Boundary; also; landmark

1. A small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid; SYN. puddle.
2. A hole that is (usually) filled with water.
3. Something resembling a pool of liquid; SYN. puddle.
4. Any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets; SYN. pocket billiards.
5. The combined stakes of the betters; SYN. kitty.
6. Any communal combination of funds
7. An organization of people or resources that can be shared

A natural hole or hollow containing water.

Largest lake in New Zealand, in a volcanic area of hot springs; area 620 sq km/239 sq mi. It is the source of the Waikato River.

Lake, Lake in Uganda, area 2,150 sq km/830 sq mi, at about 900 m/3,000 ft above sea level in the Albertine rift valley. It was known as Lake Idi Amin Dada, after President Amin of Uganda, 1973–79.

Flat shoreline zone in arid regions above the high-water mark in which the sediments include large amounts of evaporites. These occur in the form of nodules, crusts, and crystalline deposits of halite, anhydrite, and gypsum, as well as mineral grains of various sorts. Some of the evaporites form from rapid evaporation of marine waters soaking through from the bordering tidal flats, but some can be derived also from sediment-laden continental waters coming down from adjoining highlands.
Sabkhas are common features along the Persian Gulf. Former sabkha environments can be deduced from the sedimentary record of much of the oil-rich Permian Basin of Texas, as an ancient sea moved back and forth across the continent.

Town in Florida (USA); zip code 34786.

Circular lake, near Naples, Italy. Because it formerly gave off fumes that killed birds, it was thought by the Romans to be the entrance to the lower world.

1. Town in Mississippi (USA); zip code 38619.
2. Town in North Carolina (USA); zip code 27818.
3. Town in Texas (USA); zip code 75431.
4. Unincorporated community in Wisconsin (USA).
City in Lombardy, Italy, on Lake Como at the foot of the Alps; Motorcycles, glass, silk, and furniture are produced here. The river Adda flows N–S through the lake, and the shores are extremely beautiful. Como has a marble cathedral, built 1396–1732, and is a tourist resort.

Lake (German Bodensee) Lake bounded by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, through which the river Rhine flows; area 530 sq km/200 sq mi.
(German Konstanz) Town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on the section of the river Rhine joining Lake Constance and Lake Untersee; est) 70,000. Suburbs stretch across the frontier into Switzerland. Constance has clothing, machinery, and chemical factories, and printing works.