📖 L — The English dictionary · page 24

liquidate — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal, business) To liquidate a company is to close it and sell everything it owns to pay its debts.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) To turn things you own into money by selling them.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (formal, euphemism) To kill or get rid of enemies, in stories and history.↗ Example: The failing company was liquidated.↗ · They liquidated their savings to buy a house.↗ · The shop had to liquidate its stock in a closing-down sale.↗ · In the spy story, the villain ordered the agent to be liquidated.↗ · Banks may liquidate a business that cannot pay its debts.↗ · The toy factory was liquidated after losing money.↗

liquor — Everyday, meaning 1: Liquor is a strong alcoholic drink, such as whisky or rum.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old use) Liquor can mean any drink or liquid, such as the juice left after food is cooked.↗ Example: The old man poured a cup of liquor.↗ · Strong liquor is not good for children.↗ · The cook saved the liquor from the boiled peas.↗ · he shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.↗ (Torah NUM.6.3, JPS 1917)↗

list — Everyday, meaning 1: A list is a set of words, names or numbers written one after another, often one under another.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To list things is to write them or say them one after another.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To be on a list is to be included in it: on the waiting list.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A ship that lists leans to one side.↗ Example: Her shopping list has 9 things.↗ · List the numbers from 1 to 10.↗ · The prices on the list are 3, 5 and 8 dollars.↗ · How much do all the things on the list cost?↗ · Mum wrote a list of things to pack for camp.↗ · My name is first on the class list.↗ · List three animals that live in the ocean.↗ · I made a to-do list for the weekend.↗ · Put commas between the items in a list.↗ · The remaining amendments are listed below.↗ · Although the greater part of this passage is obviously spu- rious, attributing, as it does, to Joseph ben Uziel works of other authors, it may be authentic with regard to the Sefer Yetzirah, which heads the list.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

listen — Everyday, meaning 1: To listen is to pay attention to sounds or words so that you hear them: listen to music.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To listen is to take advice and do what someone says.↗ e.g. He never listens!↗ Example: Student: I am listening.↗ I will remember: «more» — add …↗ · Listen to the whole problem.↗ · Listen carefully to the instructions.↗ · We listened to a story about a dragon.↗ · I like to listen to music in the car.↗ · Listen!↗ Can you hear the birds?↗ · Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.↗ · Thank you for listening.↗ · Listen, and I will tell you."↗ · Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.↗ (Writings JOB.32.11, JPS 1917)↗ · Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye peoples, from far: the LORD hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name; (Prophets ISA.49.1, JPS 1917)↗ · I attended and listened, but they spoke not aright; no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying: 'What have I done?'↗ Every one turneth away in his course, as a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle.↗ (Prophets JER.8.6, JPS 1917)↗

listener — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who listens to someone or something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A person who listens to a radio programme or podcast.↗ Example: Be a good listener and look at the person speaking.↗ · My best friend is a great listener.↗ · The radio presenter said hello to all the listeners.↗ · Good listeners don't interrupt.↗ · The storyteller kept her listeners quiet and excited.↗ · Thousands of listeners called the radio show.↗ · A good listener asks questions about what you said.↗ · It is heard by the sleepless listener in the thickly-walled rooms at Borglum.↗

lit — Everyday, meaning 1: Lit is the past form of «light», as in to make something start burning (lit a candle) or to give light to a place (the room was lit by lamps).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Lit (adjective) means having light or burning.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Lit up means shining brightly, or a face showing happiness.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In slang, «lit» means exciting or great (not for school writing).↗ Example: Dad lit the candles on the birthday cake.↗ · Never leave a lit candle alone.↗ · The room was lit by a single lamp.↗ · Walk home on well-lit streets.↗ · Her face lit up when she saw the puppy.↗ · We lit a campfire with the help of an adult.↗ · The Christmas tree was lit up with coloured lights.↗ · John drank, then lit his pipe and went out.↗ · Giles, A History of Chinese Lit- erature, New York, 1901, p. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

litany — Everyday, meaning 1: (church) A litany is a long prayer in which a leader says a line and the people answer with the same response each time, like «Lord, have mercy».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A litany is a long list of things, often complaints or problems, that seems to go on and on.↗ Example: The priest led the litany and the people answered.↗ · In the litany, everyone repeated «Hear our prayer».↗ · He gave a litany of excuses for being late.↗ · The report listed a litany of problems.↗ · My brother has a litany of complaints about broccoli.↗ · The old church still sings the litany on Sundays.↗

literacy — Everyday, meaning 1: Literacy is the ability to read and write.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Literacy is knowledge and skill in a certain area, such as computer literacy, money literacy or media literacy.↗ Example: We have literacy every morning.↗ · Literacy helps people get good jobs.↗ · Our class learns media literacy to spot fake news.↗ · Financial literacy means understanding money.↗ · The charity improves literacy in poor areas.↗ · Digital literacy means using computers safely and well.↗

literal — Everyday, meaning 1: Taking words in their most basic, exact meaning, not as a joke or figure of speech.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Translated word for word.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) Used for real, not exaggerated.↗ Example: The literal meaning of "break a leg" is to snap your leg, but it means good luck.↗ · Don't be so literal — it was a joke!↗ · A literal translation can sound strange in English.↗ · She took my words literally and really jumped in the lake.↗ · In a literal sense, "breakfast" means breaking a fast.↗ · The literal truth is that we lost five to nil.↗ · The stories are not literal, or word by word translations, but have been altered in many ways to make them suitable for children.↗ · tion of numbers and letters ; every letter suggesting a 'number, and every group of letters having a numerical signification, as vital as its literal meaning.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · But on the most literal level, it means ‘wind’, as in the אַרְבָּע רוּחוֹת arbaʽ ruchot ‘four winds’ corresponding to the four cardinal directions, and is also conjured in the verb הֵרִיחַ heriach ‘to smell, breathe in (with the nostrils)’.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · Out of four letters 24 quadri- literal words are formed as: nJ3K, J13K, i3:iK, 2T,), i2iH, 3jnx, (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

literally — Everyday, meaning 1: Literally means exactly as the words say, not as a figure of speech.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In everyday talk, people often say "literally" just to make something sound stronger, even when it is not really true.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Literally can mean word for word, as in a translation that follows each word.↗ Example: The sign literally said "Do not touch", so we didn't.↗ · "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" is not meant literally.↗ · My little brother took the joke literally.↗ · The word "breakfast" literally means breaking a fast.↗ · I literally ran all the way to school.↗ · The French phrase, translated literally, means "the cat's ears".↗ · She was literally shaking with cold.↗ · The word sefirot by itself is the plural action noun of סָפַר safar 'to count', thus meaning literally 'countings'.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · On the other hand, if בְּלִי מָה is to be read as two words, it represents the expression beli mah, literally 'without what'.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · The appearance of this root in the SY’s introductory paragraph serves as a reminder that although we embark upon a text rich in vivid, grounded symbolism—even anthropomorphism—we should not hasten to take such symbolic language overly literally.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

literary — Everyday, meaning 1: Literary means to do with literature: books, poems, plays and stories, and the people who write them.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Literary language is the special, fancy kind used in books, not in everyday talk.↗ Example: A simile is a literary device.↗ · She won a literary prize for her poems.↗ · Our town has a literary festival every summer.↗ · «Steed» is a literary word for horse.↗ · Sherlock Holmes is a famous literary detective.↗ · He likes literary magazines.↗ · The close of Perrault's official career marked the beginning of his period of greatest literary activity.↗ · This particular phraseology is one of several hints that the SY may share a particular literary affiliation with the Sifre Emet, the poems of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

literati — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: People who are well educated and know a lot about books and writing.↗

literature — Everyday, meaning 1: Written works such as novels, poems and plays, especially ones thought to be good or important.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The study of these works as a school or university subject.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: All the writing about a particular subject, such as science papers.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (informal) Printed information such as leaflets and booklets: free literature about the museum.↗ Example: We are reading poems in literature class.↗ · Shakespeare is a famous name in English literature.↗ · Children's literature includes picture books and novels.↗ · The museum gives out free literature at the door.↗ · My sister wants to study literature at university.↗ · The scientist read all the literature on frogs before her experiment.↗ · Fairy tales are some of the oldest literature in the world.↗ · Good literature makes you think and feel.↗ · A similar view is reflected in the midrashicic and Kabbalistic literature, where Torah or Wisdom acts as a participant or instrument in the Work of Creation; see e.g. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · There is no book in Jewish literature that is so difficult to understand as the Sefer Yetzirah.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗ · In kabbalistic literature, not only tiie vowel letter y. but all the letters are considered images of angels.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

lithium — Everyday, meaning 1: Lithium is a very light, soft, silvery metal; it is a chemical element with the symbol Li.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries for phones, laptops and electric cars.↗ Example: My tablet has a lithium-ion battery.↗ · Lithium is the lightest of all metals.↗ · Its chemical symbol is Li.↗ · Lithium is so light it can float on oil.↗ · Never poke or crush a lithium battery.↗ · Electric cars need a lot of lithium.↗ · Lithium fizzes when it touches water.↗

lithosphere — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) The lithosphere is the hard, rocky outer layer of the Earth: the crust plus the very top part of the mantle, about 100 km thick, broken into tectonic plates.↗ Example: The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates.↗ · The lithosphere includes the crust and the top of the mantle.↗ · Earthquakes happen when parts of the lithosphere move.↗ · The lithosphere floats on a softer layer called the asthenosphere.↗ · Rocks, mountains and soil are part of the lithosphere.↗ · The lithosphere is thinner under the oceans than under continents.↗

lithuanian — Everyday, meaning 1: Lithuanian means from Lithuania, a country on the Baltic Sea in north-east Europe, or to do with its people.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Lithuanian is the language spoken in Lithuania.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A Lithuanian is a person from Lithuania.↗ Example: My classmate is Lithuanian.↗ · Lithuanian is spoken in Vilnius.↗ · She speaks Lithuanian at home and English at school.↗ · The Lithuanian flag is yellow, green and red.↗ · Lithuanians love basketball.↗ · Lithuanian is one of the oldest-sounding languages in Europe.↗ · We learnt to say «labas» — «hello» in Lithuanian.↗ · THE THREE PRINCES AND THEIR BEASTS (LITHUANIAN FAIRY TALE)↗

litmus — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) Litmus is a dye made from lichens that turns red in acid and blue in alkali, used to test liquids.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A litmus test is a test with litmus paper; (figurative) it is also a simple test that clearly shows what someone thinks or what something is really like.↗ Example: Lemon juice turned the blue litmus paper red.↗ · Soap turned the red litmus paper blue.↗ · Use litmus to find out if the liquid is an acid.↗ · Water does not change the colour of litmus.↗ · The vote was a litmus test for the new leader.↗ · How people treat waiters is a litmus test of their kindness.↗

litotes — Everyday, meaning 1: Litotes is a kind of understatement where you say something by saying that its opposite is not true, like «not bad» meaning «good» or «not a small problem» meaning «a big problem».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is a figure of speech, a way of using words for a special effect.↗ Example: «Not bad at all,» said Dad, which is litotes for «very good».↗ · «He's no fool» is an example of litotes.↗ · Saying a hurricane is «not exactly a light breeze» uses litotes.↗ · We found three examples of litotes in the poem.↗ · «I wasn't unhappy with my mark» means I was pleased.↗ · Old English poets loved litotes, like «that was no small gift».↗