Word Study
loath
CIDE DICTIONARY
loath, a. [OE. looth, loth, AS. lā hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. līdan to suffer, go, cf. AS. lī to go, Goth. leipan, and E. lead to guide.].
- Hateful; odious; disliked. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant; as, loath to part. [1913 Webster]"Full loth were him to curse for his tithes." [1913 Webster]"Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
loath, predic.adj. (also loth) (usu. foll. by to + infin.) disinclined, reluctant, unwilling (was loath to admit it).
Idiom
nothing loath adj. quite willing.
Etymology
OE lath f. Gmc
THESAURUS
loath
afraid, apathetic, averse, backward, balking, balky, dilatory, disinclined, grudging, hesitant, indifferent, indisposed, laggard, perfunctory, reluctant, renitent, restive, slow, slow to, uneager, unenthusiastic, unwilling, unzealousROGET THESAURUS
loath
Unwillingness
N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.For further exploring for "loath" in Webster Dictionary Online