Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Lăx'ness, n. p. 757The same as LAXITY. See LAXITY.Lāy, imp. p. 757of lie. See LIE.Lay (lā), v. t. p. 757To cause to lie flat; to place in a low position; to put down; to establish in a firm or fixed manner; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; a shower lays the dust; the foundation of a house is…Lāy (lā), v. i. p. 758To bring or produce eggs. Hens will greedily eat the herb that will make them lay the better. Mortimer. 2. To contrive; to form a scheme. [Rare.] 3. (Naut.) To take a position; to come or go; as, to…Lāy, n. p. 758That which lies, or is laid; a row; a stratum; a layer; one rank in a series reckoned upward; as, a lay of wood. A viol should have a lay of wire-strings below. Bacon. 2. A bet; a wager; an…Lāy (lā), n. p. 758A meadow; a plain or plat of grass land. A tuft of daisies on a flowery lay. Dryden.Lāy, n. p. 758A song; as, a soft lay. 2. A species of narrative poetry among the ancient minstrels; as, the Lay of the Last Minstrel. W. Scott.Lāy, n. p. 758(Weaving.) A swinging frame in a loom, called also the batten or lathe, by the movements of which the weft-threads are laid parallel to each other against the cloth previously woven.Lāy, n. p. 758The laity; the common sort. [Obs.] The learned have no more privilege than the lay. B. Jonson.Lāy, a. p. 758Pertaining to the laity or people, as distinct from the clergy; not clerical; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother. 2. Not educated or cultivated; ignorant. [Obs.] Lay brother (Eccl.), one…Lāy'er, n. p. 758One who, or that which, lays. 2. That which is laid; as, (a.) A stratum; a bed; a body spread over another; as, a layer of clay or of sand. (b.) A course, as of bricks, stones, and the like. (c.) A…Lāy'er-ing, n. p. 758A propagating by layers. Gardner.Lāy'er-out, n. p. 758One who expends money; a steward.Lāy'er-ūp, n. p. 758One who reposts for future use; a treasurer.Lāy'ing, n. p. 758(Masonry.) The first coat on laths of plasterer's two-coat work. 2. Act or period of laying eggs; the eggs laid.Lāy'land, n. p. 758Land lying untilled; fallow ground. Blount.Lāy'man, n. p. 758One of the people, in distinction from the clergy; one of the laity; sometimes, a man who does not belong to one of the other learned professions, in distinction from one who does. Being a layman, I…Lāy'-rāçe, n. p. 758That part of a lay on which the shuttle traverses in weaving, called also shuttle-race.Lāy'ship, n. p. 758The condition of being a layman. [Obs.] Milton.Lāy'stall, n. p. 758A place where rubbish, dung, &c., is laid. “A . . . laystall of murdered men.” Spenser. 2. A place where milch cows are kept, as in London. Simmonds.Lā'zar, n. p. 758A person infected with a foul and pestilential disease. “Like loathsome lazars by the hedges lay.” Spenser.Lāz'a-rēt' or Lāz'a-rēt'to, n. p. 758A public building, hospital, or pest-house for the reception of diseased persons, particularly for those affected with contagious distempers.Lā'zar-house, n. p. 758A lazaretto; also, a hospital for quarantine.Lāz'ar-ist or Lāz'ar-ite, n. p. 758(Rom. Cath. Church.) One of a religious order founded by Vincent de Paul, in 1617, approved in 1626, and erected into a congregation in 1632, and so called from the priory of St. Lazarus, in Paris…Lā'zar-ly, a. p. 758Full of sores; leprous. Bp. Hall.Lāz'a-rō'nī, n. pl. p. 758See LAZZARONI.Lā'zar-wort, n. p. 758The same as LASER-WORT.Lāze, v. i. p. 758To live in idleness; to be idle. [Colloq.]Lāze, v. t. p. 758To waste in sloth; to spend, as time, in idleness; as, to laze away whole days. [Colloq.]Lā'zi-ly, adv. p. 758In a lazy manner; sluggishly. He lazily and listlessly dreams away his time. Locke.Lā'zi-ness, n. p. 758The state or quality of being lazy; indisposition to action or exertion; indolence; sluggishness; heaviness in motion; habitual sloth. Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him.…Lāz'ing, a. p. 758Spending time in sluggish inaction.Lāz'ŭ-lī, n. p. 758(Min.) A mineral of a fine azure-blue color, usually amorphous, or in rounded masses of a moderate size. It is often marked by yellow spots or veins of sulphuret of iron, and is much valued for…Lāz'ū-līte, n. p. 758(Min.) A mineral of a light, indigo-blue color, occurring in small masses, or crystallized in oblique, four-sided prisms, and consisting of phosphoric acid, alumina, and magnesia. Dana.Lā'zy, a. p. 758Disinclined to action or exertion; naturally or habitually slothful; averse to labor; heavy in motion. Wicked men will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and spend victuals.…Lăz'za-rō'nī, n. pl. p. 758(Naples.) The poor who live by begging, or have no permanent habitation; — so called from the hospital of St. Lazarus, which serves as their refuge. [Written also, but improperly, lozaroni.]Lēa, n. p. 758A meadow or sward land; a field. “Plow-torn leas.” Shak. The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea. Gray.Lēach, v. t. p. 758To wash, as ashes, by percolation, or causing water to pass through them, and thus to separate from them the alkali. [Written also leech and letch.]Lēach, v. i. p. 758To pass through by percolation.Lēach, n. p. 758A quantity of wood-ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali. 2. A tub in which ashes are leached; a leach-tub.Lēach, n. p. 758(Naut.) See LEECH. 2. A physician. See LEECH. [Obs.] Spenser.Lēach'-craft, n. p. 758The skill or care of a physician.Lēach'-tūb, n. p. 758A wooden vessel or tub in which ashes are leached. [Written also letch-tub.]Lēach'y, a. p. 759Suffering fluids to pass by percolation; not capable of retaining water;—said of gravelly or sandy soils, and the like.Lēad, n. p. 759A metal of a dull white color, with a cast of blue. It is the least elastic and sonorous of all the metals, and at the same time it is soft and easily fusible. Its specific gravity when pure is…Lĕad, v. t. p. 759To cover with lead; to fit with lead. 2. (Print.) To widen the space between lines by inserting a lead or leads.Lēad, v. t. p. 759To show the way to, as to a town or street; to cause to go; to conduct or guide in a way. He leadeth me beside the still waters. Ps. xxiii. 2. 2. To guide by the hand, as a child, or animal. In thy…Lēad, v. i. p. 759To go before and show the way. “I will lead on softly.” Gen. xxxiii. 14. 2. To conduct, as a chief or commander; as, let the troops follow where their general leads. 3. To put forth, or exercise, a…Lēad, n. p. 759Precedence; a going before; guidance. At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, . . . I am sure I did my country important service. Burke. 2. A navigable opening or lane in an ice-field.…Lĕad'ed, p. a. p. 759Fitted with lead; set in lead; as, leaded windows. 2. (Print.) Separated by leads, as the lines of a page.L'ēad'en, a. p. 759Made of lead; as, a leaden ball. 2. Heavy; indisposed to action; dull. Shak.Lĕad'en-heārt'ed, a. p. 759Stupid; destitute of feeling. Thomson.Lēad'en-heeled, a. p. 759Moving slowly. Ford.Lēad'en-stēp'ping, a. p. 759Moving slowly. Milton.Lead'er, n. p. 759One who, or that which, leads or conducts; a guide; a conductor; especially, (a.) One who goes first. (b.) A chief; a commander; a captain. (c.) The chief of a party or faction; as, the leader of the…Lēad'er-ship, n. p. 759The state or condition of a leader.Lēad'ing, p. a. p. 759Chief; principal; capital; most important or influential; as, a leading motive; a leading man in a party. 2. Showing the way by going first. He left his mother a countess by patent, which was a new…Lēad'ing, n. p. 759Lead, or sheets or articles of lead collectively.Lēad'ing-ly, adv. p. 759By leading.Lēad'ing-strĭngs, n. pl. p. 759Strings by which children are supported when beginning to walk. To be in leading-strings, to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others.