📖 L — The English dictionary · page 10

lazybones — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) A lazybones is a lazy person, someone who does not want to get up or do any work; it is usually a playful, joking word.↗ Example: «Wake up, lazybones, it's nearly nine!» called Mum.↗ · The cat is a real lazybones; it sleeps all day.↗ · Don't be a lazybones; help me carry the shopping.↗ · Grandad called us lazybones when we stayed in bed.↗ · Our dog is a lazybones on hot afternoons.↗ · «Who's the lazybones who left the dishes?»↗ · Next day the lazybones went to church.↗

le — Everyday, meaning 1: (French) «Le» means «the» in French, used before a masculine word: «le chat» is «the cat».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It sounds like «luh» to an English ear, with a short soft vowel.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: It is not an English word, but you meet it in French names and phrases that English has borrowed.↗ Example: In French, «le chat» means «the cat».↗ · Our teacher wrote «le livre» on the board and said it means «the book».↗ · «Le» sounds a bit like «luh».↗ · The Quebec street sign said «Le Vieux-Port».↗ · In French class we sorted words into «le» words and «la» words.↗ · «Le garçon» means «the boy».↗ · The café in our town is called «Le Petit Café».↗ · From ‘Le Foyer Breton,’ par E.↗ · Yod is variously written in English letters as I, Y, or J, or sometimes le.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all; at Beth-le-aphrah roll thyself in the dust.↗ (Prophets MIC.1.10, JPS 1917)↗

leach — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) To leach is when water slowly washes chemicals or minerals out of soil, rock or another material.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To leach is when a substance slowly seeps out of something, like colour or chemicals from plastic.↗ Example: Heavy rain leaches nutrients out of the soil.↗ · Chemicals from the tip leached into the river.↗ · Colour leached from the red sock into the white shirt.↗ · Over years, salt leaches out of the rock.↗ · Some plastics can leach chemicals into hot food.↗ · The farmers added fertiliser because the soil was leached.↗

lead — Everyday, meaning 1: To lead (leed) is to go in front and show the way, or to be in charge of a group.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To lead is to be winning: «Our team leads by two goals».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To lead to something is to cause it or go to it: «This path leads to the beach».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A lead (leed) is a strap for a dog (US: leash), or a wire for electricity.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: The lead (leed) is first place, or the main part in a play.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: Lead (led) is a soft, heavy, grey metal, poisonous if swallowed.↗ Everyday, meaning 7: Pencil «lead» (led) is really graphite, not the metal.↗ Example: Please lead the way to the hall.↗ · Our team is in the lead.↗ · Keep your dog on a lead near the road.↗ · This road leads to the village.↗ · She will lead the class assembly.↗ · Too much screen time can lead to poor sleep.↗ · Lead is a very heavy metal.↗ · My pencil lead broke.↗ · False confidence often leads to disaster.↗ · The LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with Him.↗ (Torah DEU.32.12, JPS 1917)↗ · Howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, (Torah NUM.31.22, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters.↗ (Torah EXO.15.10, JPS 1917)↗ · For the Leader; upon the Nehiloth.↗ (Writings PSA.5.1, JPS 1917)↗ · For the Leader; upon the Gittith.↗ (Writings PSA.8.1, JPS 1917)↗ · For the Leader; on the Sheminith.↗ (Writings PSA.12.1, JPS 1917)↗

leaden — Everyday, meaning 1: Made of lead, the grey heavy metal: a leaden gutter.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Dull grey, like lead: leaden skies.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Heavy and slow, as if weighed down: leaden legs.↗ Example: The rain fell from the leaden sky.↗ · My legs felt leaden after the long walk.↗ · The roof had a leaden gutter.↗ · Her heart was leaden with grief.↗

leaders — Everyday, meaning 1: People who lead or are in charge of a group, a team, a country or an organisation.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: People or teams that are winning or in first place in a race or competition.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Companies or things that are the best or most important in their area (market leaders).↗ Example: World leaders met to talk about the climate.↗ · The group leaders gave out the maps.↗ · The leaders of the race are on the last lap.↗ · Good leaders listen to their team.↗ · Our school has student leaders in every class.↗ · The two club leaders shook hands.↗ · Scouts have adult leaders who help them.↗ · Seven leaders were now chosen, each at the head of a separate detachment of troops.↗ · And these are the Twelve Leaders in the Person: two hands, two legs, two kidneys, spleen, liver, gall, rumen, abomasum, craw.↗ [note 2: Identification of the latter four terms is very strange.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · Hark! the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leaders of the flock!↗ (Prophets JER.25.36, JPS 1917)↗ · And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.↗ (Prophets JER.25.35, JPS 1917)↗ · And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria.↗ (Writings 2CH.32.21, JPS 1917)↗

leadership — Everyday, meaning 1: Leadership is being the leader of a group, team or country.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Leadership is the ability to lead people well: to guide, decide and help others work together.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The leadership is the group of people who lead an organisation or party.↗ Example: The team won the cup under her leadership.↗ · Being a school prefect helps you learn leadership.↗ · Good leadership means listening to others.↗ · The party's leadership met to plan the campaign.↗ · He showed real leadership when the tent fell down.↗ · Leadership is not just giving orders.↗ · The class voted for Ava because of her leadership skills.↗ · The leadership of the Pack is with the Pack alone.”↗

leadest — Early Modern English, meaning 1: «leadest» means «you lead», a form of «lead».↗ e.g. To lead (leed) is to go in front and show the way, or to be in charge of a group.↗ Example: “O mighty Death! thy silence teaches nought, Thou leadest only to the near grave's brink; Is broken now the ladder of my thoughts?↗ (Andersen's Fairy Tales)

leaf — Everyday, meaning 1: A leaf is one of the flat, usually green parts that grow on a plant or tree.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A leaf is also one sheet of paper in a book, with a page on each side.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To leaf through a book is to turn its pages quickly without reading closely.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A leaf of a table is an extra flat piece that makes it bigger.↗ Example: The plant has 12 leaves.↗ · 5 leaves fell off.↗ · Each clover has 3 leaves.↗ · How many leaves are on 4 clovers?↗ · In autumn the maple leaves turn red and orange.↗ · Leaves use sunlight to make food for the plant.↗ · We raked the leaves into a big pile and jumped in it.↗ · She leafed through the comic book in the library.↗ · A four-leaf clover is said to bring good luck.↗ · He promised to turn over a new leaf and do his homework on time.↗ · Round about him, not a leaf stirred.↗ · And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.↗ (Torah GEN.3.7, JPS 1917)↗ · And the dove came in to him at eventide; and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.↗ (Torah GEN.8.11, JPS 1917)↗ · Wilt Thou harass a driven leaf?↗ (Writings JOB.13.25, JPS 1917)↗ · For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.↗ (Prophets ISA.1.30, JPS 1917)↗ · And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.↗ (Prophets EZK.41.24, JPS 1917)↗

leafless — Everyday, meaning 1: Having no leaves; bare, as trees are in winter.↗ Example: In winter the trees stand leafless.↗ · The leafless oak looked cold and bare.↗ · Only the leafless branches showed against the sky.↗

leaflet — Everyday, meaning 1: A leaflet is a small printed sheet of paper, sometimes folded, that gives information or advertises something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) A leaflet is a small leaf that is part of a bigger leaf, like on a clover.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To leaflet an area is to hand out leaflets there.↗ Example: A leaflet about the school fair came home in my bag.↗ · Read the leaflet before taking the medicine.↗ · We delivered 50 leaflets on our street.↗ · The fire safety leaflet says to check smoke alarms.↗ · A clover leaf has three leaflets.↗ · They leafleted the town about the lost cat.↗ · Pick up a free leaflet at the museum.↗ · If each house gets 2 leaflets, 30 houses need 60 leaflets.↗ · It was written on a leaflet of paper heavily flecked with gold-dust.↗

leafy — Everyday, meaning 1: Having lots of leaves: «a leafy tree».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of a place) With many trees and gardens, green and pleasant: «a leafy street».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (of vegetables) Eaten as leaves: «leafy greens».↗ Example: We walked down a leafy lane.↗ · Eat your leafy greens like spinach and lettuce.↗ · The leafy branches gave us shade.↗ · They live in a leafy part of town.↗ · The leafiest tree in the park is the old oak.↗ · Caterpillars love leafy plants.↗ · Overgrown with thistles and rank weeds, in the centre of which a leafy lime tree reared itself.↗ · Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree.↗ (Torah DEU.12.2, JPS 1917)↗ · Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our couch is leafy.↗ (Writings SNG.1.16, JPS 1917)↗ · It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be leafy.↗ (Writings JOB.15.32, JPS 1917)↗ · and they set them up pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every leafy tree; (Prophets 2KI.17.10, JPS 1917)↗

league — Everyday, meaning 1: A group of sports teams or clubs that play matches against each other to see who is best.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A level of quality: «He is not in the same league».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A group of people or countries who join together for a shared aim.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: An old measure of distance, about three miles (about 5 kilometres).↗ Example: Our team is top of the league.↗ · She plays in a girls' football league.↗ · We get three points for a win in our league.↗ · Look at the league table to see who is winning.↗ · That chess player is out of my league.↗ · The pirates were in league with the guards.↗ · In the old story, they walked seven leagues in one day.↗ · And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; and he shall come up and become strong, with a little nation.↗ (Writings DAN.11.23, JPS 1917)↗ · For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.↗ (Writings JOB.5.23, JPS 1917)↗ · And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.↗ (Prophets 1KI.5.26, JPS 1917)↗

leak — Everyday, meaning 1: To leak means to let liquid or gas escape through a hole or crack by accident.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A leak is a small hole or crack that lets things through, or the liquid or gas that escapes.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To leak a secret means to tell it to people who should not know.↗ Example: The roof leaks when it rains.↗ · There's a leak in the bucket.↗ · If you smell gas, there may be a gas leak; get out and tell an adult.↗ · My water bottle is leaking in my bag.↗ · The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.↗ · Old batteries can leak acid.↗ · Someone leaked the surprise, so she knew about the party.↗ · Put a pot under the leak to catch the drips.↗ · The main mast was split asunder, the ship sprang a leak, and the pumps became useless, while all around was black as night.↗

leakage — Everyday, meaning 1: Leakage is liquid, gas or light escaping through a hole or crack.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Leakage is also the amount that escapes.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Leakage of information is when secret or private facts get out to people who should not have them.↗ Example: Water leakage made a stain on the ceiling.↗ · The plumber found the cause of the leakage.↗ · Old batteries can have leakage of acid.↗ · A gas leakage can cause a fire, so open the windows and get out.↗ · The tank lost ten litres through leakage.↗ · The company worried about the leakage of secret plans.↗

leaky — Everyday, meaning 1: Leaky describes something with a hole or crack that lets liquid or gas escape or get in: a leaky tap, a leaky roof.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Leaky can describe a person or group that lets secrets out.↗ Example: The leaky tap dripped all night.↗ · Put a bucket under the leaky roof.↗ · My wellies are leaky, so my socks are soaked.↗ · They rowed across the lake in a leaky old boat.↗ · A leaky pen left ink all over my pencil case.↗ · The team was so leaky that the coach's plan reached the other side.↗