▪ I. la-la, a.
(ˈlɑːˈlɑː)
[adj. use of la la interj.: see la int. b.]
‘So-so’, not so good as it might be, poor.
| 1800 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1801) IV. 253 Finding my appetite very la, la, took two glasses of bitters. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London I. 240 As to his singing, it is but la la. a 1849 Hartley Coleridge Ess. (1851) II. 94 A species of composition so la-la and lackadaisacal. |
▪ II. la-la, v.
(ˈlɑːˈlɑː)
[Redupl. la int.]
intr. To sing or say the syllable la repeatedly, esp. in place of the words or notes of a tune. Also trans., to sing (a song) in this way.
| 1906 Daily Chron. 19 Sept. 9/6 Miss Neale..‘la la’-ed a simple tune. 1908 Ibid. 18 Aug. 7/1 They search out the secret places of past grandeur, la-la-ing as they issue from court and passage. 1974 Listener 17 Jan. 84/1 Those boys who couldn't sing didn't just ‘la-la’: they said the words, and they were called ‘Talking Josephs’. The boys who really could sing were called ‘Canaries’. |