Lē'the, n.

n. [Gr. λήθη, forgetfulness, the river of oblivion, equiv. to ὁ τῆς λήθης ποταμός, from λήθεσθαι, λανθάνεσθαι, to forget.]

1. (Gr. Myth.) A river of Africa, watering the city of Berenice, which, because it runs many miles under ground, was fabled by the poets to be one of the rivers of hell, and, because the name signifies oblivion, was feigned to cause forgetfulness of all that was past to those who drank of its waters.
2. Oblivion; a draught of oblivion; forgetfulness.
3. [See LETHIAL.] Death. [Obs. and rare.] Shak.