- when applied to rivers, this term denotes a slow-moving, meandering stream. Evidence for the word is found mainly in the south-west of Scotland and it is used to form several place-names in Galloway including Lanebreddan and Lanemannoch. It is thought to derive from Gaelic lèan 'marshy meadow'. A somewhat unflattering description is given in S. R. Crockett's novel, Lad's Love (1897):
A 'lane' is, in Galloway, a slow, untrouted, sullen, half-stagnant piece of water, loitering currentless across a meadow or peat-moor.