lush

Etymology 1

From Middle English lusch (“slack, relaxed, limp, loose”), from Old English *lysċ, lesċ (“slack; limp”), from Proto-West Germanic *laskw, from Proto-Germanic *laskwaz (“weak, false, feeble”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēy- (“to let; leave behind”). Akin to Old English lysu, lesu (“false, evil, base”), Middle Low German lasch (“slack”), Middle High German er-leswen (“to become weak”), Old Norse lǫskr (“weak, feeble”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍃𐌹𐍅𐍃 (lasiws, “weak, feeble”), Middle Low German las, lasich (“slack, languid, idle”), Low German lusch (“loose”). Doublet of lusk. More at lishey, lazy.

adj

1. Juicy, succulent.
2. (dialectal) Mellow; soft; (of ground or soil) easily turned; fertile.
3. (of vegetation) Dense, teeming with life; luxuriant.
   Some of the world’s best rain forest and volcanic hiking can be found within the lush canopied Caribbean trail systems. Chock-full of waterfalls and hot springs, bright-colored birds and howling monkeys, flora-lined trails cut through thick, fragrant forests and up cloud-covered mountains. 2006, Stefani Jackenthal, New York Times
   Virmire is a lush world located on the frontier of the Attican Traverse. Its vast seas and orbital position on the inner life zone have created a wide equatorial band of humid, tropical terrain. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Planets: Virmire Codex entry
   European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River. 2013-01, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 2013-01-22, page 59
4. (of food) Savoury, delicious.
   That meal was lush! We have to go to that restaurant again sometime!
5. Thriving; rife; sumptuous.
   They rolled into Jane's room a wheeled cart lush with cake and cookies and shrimp and crudités and pop and soda water. The staff was giving us a going-away party for our trip to Seattle; it was good to understand their confidence. 2005, Donald Hall, The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 105
6. (Britain, slang) Beautiful, sexy.
   Boys with long hair are lush!
7. (Britain, Canada, slang) Amazing, cool, fantastic, wicked.
   Your voice is lush, Lucy! I could listen to it all day!
8. (obsolete) Lax; slack; limp; flexible.

Etymology 2

Perhaps a humorous use of the preceding word, or perhaps from Shelta lush (“food and drink”) (the sense "liquor" is older than the sense "drinker"). The Century Dictionary wrote that it was "said to be so called from one Lushington, a once well-known London brewer", but the Online Etymology Dictionary considers lushington (“drinker”) a humorous extension of lush instead.

noun

1. (slang, derogatory) A drunkard, sot, alcoholic.
2. (slang) Intoxicating liquor.
   If your care comes, in the liquor sink it, / Pass along the lush — I'm the boy can drink it. 1841, Charles Lever, Charles O'Malley
3. (Hawaii, Pidgin, slang) A person who enjoys talking about themselves.
   Am I humble or am I a lush?

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To drink (liquor) to excess.