“lads” is a form of
lad
/læd/ noun
Forms lads
- noun A boy or young man.
- noun (UK) A hedonistic or irresponsible young man; A Jack the lad. “I think he reckons he’s a bit of a lad.”
- noun A familiar term of address for a young man. “Come here, lad, and help me shift these boxes.”
- noun A groom who works with horses.
- noun (Ireland, colloquial) The penis.
- noun (scambaiting, Internet slang) A scammer.
Synonyms
stable boy stable lad chap fellow feller fella gent blighter cuss bloke cub laddie sonny sonny boy
Etymology
From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which may have undergone semantic shift to mean a term of abuse (e.g. foolish youth, youngster of lower social status, etc.); thence by connotative amelioration coming to mean any young fellow. Compare Norwegian ladd (“rough sock, woolen or felt slipper”) and the -ladd in compounds Askeladd/Askeladden (a nickname in fairy tales, "Ash Lad") and tusseladd (“nincompoop”). See also Swedish ladder (“old shoes”), lodde (“Frisian shoe”), lädder (“socks”), all said to be related to Old Norse loðinn (“hairy, shaggy, woolly”), loddi (“shaggy dog”).
Webster’s 1913
- of Lead, to guide Chaucer.
- noun A boy; a youth; a stripling. "Cupid is a knavish lad." Shak.
- noun A companion; a comrade; a mate. Lad's love. (Bot.) See Boy's love, under Boy.
Etymology [OE. ladde, of Celtic origin; cf. W. , Ir. lath. (. Cf. Lass.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lad”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details