log¹ / lôg; läg/ • n. 1. a part of the trunk or a large branch of a tree that has fallen or been cut off.2. (also log·book) an official record of events during the voyage of a ship or aircraft: a ship's log. ∎  a regular or systematic record of incidents or observations: keep a detailed log of your activities.3. an apparatus for determining the speed of a ship, originally consisting of a float attached to a knotted line wound on a reel, the distance run out in a certain time being used as an estimate of the vessel's speed.• v. (logged, log·ging) [tr.] 1. enter (an incident or fact) in the log of a ship or aircraft or in another systematic record: the incident has to be logged the red book where we log our calls. ∎  (of a ship or aircraft) achieve (a certain distance or speed): she had logged more than 12,000 miles since she had been launched. ∎  (of an aircraft pilot) attain (a certain amount of flying time).2. cut down (an area of forest) in order to exploit the timber commercially.PHRASES: (as) easy as falling off a log inf. very easy.PHRASAL VERBS: log in (or on) go through the procedures to begin use of a computer system, which includes establishing the identity of the user.log off (or out) go through the procedures to conclude use of a computer system.log² • n. short for logarithm: [as adj.] log tables | log x.

log in nautical usage, log denotes an apparatus for determining the speed of a ship, originally one consisting of a thin quadrant of wood loaded to float upright, attached to a knotted line, the distance run out in a certain time being used as an estimate of the vessel's speed. From this, log came to mean the ship's journal in which information derived from the device was recorded.
King Log in Aesop's fable, the antithesis of King Stork in his rule over the frogs. According to the story, the frogs asked for a king, and were first of all given a log by Jupiter. Demanding a more active king, they were given a stork, who ate many of them. The two kings are referred to allusively as types of inertia and excessive activity.
log cabin a hut built of whole or split logs; in North America taken (as typical of a settler's cabin) as symbolizing the humblest origins from which a person might rise to eminence.
log line the knotted line to which a ship's log (see above) was attached.

See also logrolling.

log. Type of construction, apparently intro-duced to the USA by Scandinavian immigrants in C18, in which walls are formed of straight tree-trunks each placed horizontally on top of another, overlapping at the corners of the building. Joints were filled with mud, dung, moss, etc.

Bibliography

Hansen (1971);
Jordan (1985);
Sturgis et al. (1901–2)

log1 bulky mass of wood XIV; (naut.) apparatus for calculating a ship's speed consisting of a thin wooden float attached to a line XVI. prob. earlier; cf. AL. loggiare cut into logs XIII; of unkn. orig.

log2 abbr. of LOGARITHM. XVII.