lounge

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from French s’allonger (“to lie down”). Compare French longer (“to walk along”). Compare also German lungern (“to hang or lounge around, linger”).

verb

1. To relax; to spend time lazily; to stand, sit, or recline, in an indolent manner.
   We like to spend our Sundays lounging about at home in our pyjamas.
   We lounge over the sciences, dawdle through literature, yawn over politics. 1854, J. Hannay, Singleton Fontenoy, R.N
   On Professor Solanka’s street, well-heeled white youths lounged in baggy garments on roseate stoops, stylishly simulating indigence while they waited for the billionairedom that would surely be along sometime soon. 2002 [2001], Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Vintage, page 4

noun

1. (now rare) A place where one can lounge; an area, establishment, house etc. where loungers gather and where one can relax and be at ease.
   He […] prevailed on Captain Musgrave to introduce him to a family, where he supposed he might find a monstrous good lounge for the rest of the time he was to be quartered in the neighbourhood. 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 196
2. The act of someone who lounges; idle reclining.
   That is, he devoted his waking hours to lounges among the habitués of Chestnut-street, and lollings in an arm-chair of 'Squire Coke in Walnut-street. 1849, The Knickerbocker, volume 33, page 198
3. (Britain) The living room or sitting room of a house.
   The lounge was furnished in old English oak and big Knole settees. There were rugs from Tabriz and Kerman on the highly polished floor. […] A table lamp was fashioned from a silver Egyptian hookah. 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 18, in The Subtle Minotaur
4. A large comfortable seat for two or three people or more, a sofa or couch; also called lounge chair.
5. A waiting room in an office, airport etc.
6. An establishment, similar to a bar, that serves alcohol and often plays background music or shows television.