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LAU

Nor shall thy fate. 8 Rome,

Resist my vow. Though hills were set on hills,
And seas met seas, to guard thee: I would through;
I, plough up rocks, steep as the Alpes, in dust;
And lave the Tyrrhene waters, into clouds,
But I would reach thy head, thy head, proud city.
B. Jonson. Catiline, Act i. sc. 1.

Some stow their oars, or stop the leaky sides,
Another, bolder yet, the yard bestrides,
And folds the sails; a fourth, with labor, laves
Th' intruding seas, and waves ejects on waves.
Dryden. Ovid. Metam. b. x.
LAVE'ER. Dut. Laveren, laveren; to go in
an oblique course, to sail obliquely, to catch the
wind at sea in oblique directions, (Skinner.) See
TO VEER.

I heard a grave and austere clerk,
Resolv'd him pilot both and bark;
That like the fam'd ship of Trever,

Did on the shore himself laver.-Lovelace. Lucasta, pt. ii.

How easy 'tis, when Destiny proves kind,
With full spread sails to run before the wind!
But those that 'gainst stiff gales laveering go,
Must be at once resolv'd and skilful too.

Dryden. Astræa Redux.

LAVE'NDER. Fr. Lavande; It. Lavanda ; Sp. Lavandula; Low Lat. Lavandula, or lavendula, a word unknown to Pliny and other ancient writers, but Latin in its origin, (sc. lavare, to wash,) for it is so called because it is much sought for in bathing and washing, (Vossius, de Vit. lib. iii. c. 18.)

Here's flowres for you;
Hot lauender, mints, sauory marjorum.
Shakespeare. Winter's Tale, Act iv. sc. 3.

LAUGH, v.
LAUGH, n.

LAUGHABLE.

LA'UGHER.

LAUGHING, n.

LAUGHINGLY.

LA'UGHTER.

Goth. Hlah-yan; A. S. Hlihan, hlihhan; Dut. Lacchen; Ger. Lachen; Sw. Lee. Generally supposed to be formed from the sound.

To laugh at; to deride, to ridicule; to treat with merri

ment, with derision, contempt, or scorn.

To laugh, (met.)-to be, or appear, cheerful, pleasant, benevolent, favourable, propitious, beneficent, fertile.

The kyng somdel to lyghe tho he herde this tale.
R. Gloucester, p. 146.
Lauhunge al a loude. for lewde men sholde
When that ich were witty.
Piers Plouhman, p. 88.
Woo to you that now leyghen for ye schulen mourne and
wepe.-Wiclif. Luke, c. 6.

Youre leighing be turned into weping, and ioie into sorewe of herte.-Id. James, c. 4.

The folk gan laughen at his fantasie.

Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 3838.

And gan his best yapes forth to cast, And made her for to laugh at his follie," That she for laughter wente to die.-Id. Troil. & Cres. b.ii. And Sara sayd: God hath made me a laughing-stocke; for all that heare, will laughe at me.-Bible,1551. Gen. c. 21. And when he came vp, he told Maiester Bradford (for they both lay in one chamber) that he hadde made the Bishop of London afraid : for (saith he laughingly) his chaplaine gaue him councaile nat to strike me with his crosier staffe, for that I would strike again; and by my troth (said he rubbing his handes) I made him beleeue I would do so indeed.-Fox. Martyrs, p. 1385. Life & Acts of Dr. Taylor.

I may therefore conclude, that the passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from a sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly: for men laugh at the follies of themselves past, when they come suddenly to remembrance, except they bring with them any present dishonour.-Hobbs. Human Nature, c. 9.

Laughing without offence must be at absurdities and infirmities abstracted from persons, and when all the company may laugh together: for laughing to one's self putteth all the rest into jealousy and examining of themselves.-Id. Ib.

Nature hath fram'd strange fellowes in her time.
Some that will euermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh like parrits at a bag-piper;

And other of such vinegar aspect,

That they'll not shew their teeth in the way of smile,
Though Nestor sweare the iest be laughable.

Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice, Act i. sc. 1.

LAU

To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill.

Shakespeare. A Louer's Complaint.
Thou pow'r that rul'st the confines of the night,
Laughter-lov'ng goddess, worldly pleasure's queen,
Intenerate that heart that sets so light.-Daniel, Son. 10.

To compass this. his building is a town,
His pond an ocean, his parterre a down:
Who but must laugh, the master when he sees,
A puny insect, shivering at a breeze.

Pope. Moral Essays, Epis. 5.
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whisp'ring wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
Goldsmith. The Deserted Village.
Between the laughers and the envious, the book was
much ridiculed.-Walpole. Anec. of Painting, vol. iv. c. 1.

He tells us Philemon was suffocated by a sudden fit of
laughter upon seeing an ass, who found his way into the
house, devour a plate of figs, which his page had provided
for him.-Observer, No. 151.

LAVISH, v.
LA'VISH, adj.
LA'VISHER.

LA'VISHLY.
LA'VISHMENT.
LAVISHNESS.

To lave, (Lye,) is to draw out or exhaust: and hence lavish appears to be formed. See the quotations from Sir T. More and Brende.

To throw out or away profusely, wastefully, prodigally; to waste, to squander, to dissipate, to disperse, wastefully, or profusely. In al other thing so light and laves [are they] of their tonge.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 250.

This was a goodly discipline yt the kinges there had of olde time vsed amongst their subiects, in punishing with losse of life the lauesnes of ye toung, which is ther more greuously chastised then any other cryme.

Brende. Quintus Curtius, fol. 67.

A certayne manne (qh. he) goyng farre from home, called hy's seruauntes, and deliuered them hys goodes, not to spend them, lauyshe them out prodygally for theyr own pleasure, but to get some aduauntage therefore to theyr mayster, of whom they had receyued the stocke.-Udal. Matt. c. 25.

Athough some lauishe lippes, which like some other best,
Wyll saye the blemishe on hir browe disgraceth all the
rest.-Gascoigne. In Prayse of Lady Sandes.

Be not ye niggish, & slouthfull distributours of the doc-
tryne that I gave you, but put it fourth lauishly.
Udal. Marke, c. 3.
There lavish Nature, in her best attire,
Powres forth sweete odors and alluring sights.
Spenser. Muiopotmos.
And the much blood he lavishly had shed,
A desolation on the land to bring.
Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. v.
Ah, happy realm the while
That by no officer's lewd lavishment,
With greedy lust and wrong, consumed art.

P. Fletcher. The Purple Island, c. 6.
First got with guile, and then preserv'd with dread,
And after spent with pride and lavishness.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 7.
The magistrate upon theatricall games, jesters, wrestlers,
sword-players, and such kinde of men, lavishes out his
whole patrimony, and that onely to purchas the applause of
the people.-Hakewill. Apologie, b. iv. s. 3.

Tertullian very truly observeth,-God is not a lavisher,
but a dispenser of his blessings.
Fotherby. Atheomania, p. 189.
There God himself in glorys lavishness
Diffus'd in all, to all, is all full blessedness.

P. Fletcher. The Purple Island, c. 5.
For if time be (as Theophrastus called it truely) a thing of
the most precious value (or expence) it were a great folly to
lavish it away unprofitably.-Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 15.

Not all the lavish odours of the place
Offer'd in incense can procure his pardon,
Or mitigate his doom.
Blair. The Grave.
These wounds that waste so lavishly thy life,
Were they not all receiv'd in my defence?

LA'UNDER, v.
LAVENDER, or
LA'UNDER, n.
LA'UNDERER.

LA'UNDRESS.

Smollett. The Regicide, Act v. sc. 8.

a

From Lav-are, to wash.
Fr. Lavandière; It. Lavan-
daja; Sp. Lavandera,
laundress or washerwoman;
and so Mr. Tyrwhitt inter-
prets-lavender; the word in Dante is Meretrice;
Sp. Lavandero, a launder, or washerman.
To launder,-is to lave, to wash.
Envie is lavender of the court alwaie,
For she ne parteth neither night ne day,
Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Dant.
Chaucer. Legende of Good Women, Prol.

And this effeminate love of a woman, doth so womanize a man, that, if he yield to it, it will not only make him an Amazon, but a launder, a distaff, a spinner, or whatsoever other vile occupation their idle heads can imagine, and their weak hands perform.-Sidney. Arcadia, b.i.

Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne,
Which on it had conceited characters,
Laund'ring the silken figures in the brine
That season'd woe had pelleted in tears.

Shakespeare. A Lover's Complaint.
-I, and, (perhaps) thy neck
Within a noose, for laundring gold, and barbing it.
B. Jonson. The Alchymist, Acti. se 1
Of ladies, chamberers, and launderers, there were aboue
three hundred at the least.-Holinshed. Rich. II. an. 1399.
About the sixteenth yeere of the queene, began the
making of steele poking-sticks, and untill that time all
lawndresses vsed setting stickes, made of wood, or bone.
Stow. King James, an. 1086.

It [his beard] does your visage more adorn,
Than if 'twere prun'd, and starch'd, and landered.
Hudibras, pt. ii. c. 1.
There [the kitchen] the grand affairs of the family ought
to be consulted; whether they concern the stable, the dairy,
the pantry, the laundry, the celler, the nursery, the dining-
room, or my lady's chamber.-Swift. Directions to Servants.

Myself, in youth's more joyous reign,
My laundress held in pleasing chain.

LAUREATE, v.
LAUREATE, n.
LAUREATE, adj.
LAUREA'TION.
LAUREL, n.
LAURELLED.

crown with laurel.

Hamilton. Horace, b. ii. Ode 4.

It. Laureato; Sp. Laurear, laureado, from the Lat. Laurus, a bay; the modern aurel is a very different plant.

To adorn, to deck, to

Min herte and all my limmes ben as grene,
As laurer thurgh the yere is for to sene.

Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9339
To Rome again repareth Julius
With his triumphe laureat ful hie.

Id. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 14,614.
And what rewarde? not a crowne of oak or laurell.
Udal. Matthew, c. 5

There will I build him
A monument, and plant it round with shade
Of laurel evergreen, and branching palm.
Milton. Samson Agonistes.

Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears,
And strow the laureat herse where Lycid lies.
Id. Lycidas.
Whose statues wand'ring twine
Of ivy mix'd with bays, circling around
Their living temples likewise laurel-bound.

Bp. Hall, b. i. Sat. 1.

A famous assembly was summon'd of late:
To crown a new laureat, came Phoebus in state;
With all that Montfaucon himself could desire,
His bow, laurel, harp, and abundance of fire.
Sheffield. The Election of Poet Laureat in 1719.
Their temples wreath'd with leaves that still renew;
For deathless laurel is the victor's due.

Dryden. The Flower and the Leaf.
"Just is your suit, fair daughter," said the dame:
"Those laurel'd chiefs were men of mighty fame."
Id. Ib.
Or laurell'd war did teach our winged fleets
Smart. The Hop-Garden.
To lord it o'er the world.
In this reign, the first mention of the king's poet under
the appellation of laureate, occurs. John Kay was appointed
poet laureate to Edward IV.

Warton. History of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 128. About the year 1470, one John Watson, a student in grammar, obtained a concession to be graduated and laureated in that science.-Id. Ib. p. 129.

On which occasion (i. e. taking degrees in grammar) a These wreath of laurel was presented to the new graduate, who was afterwards, usually styled poeta laureatus. scholastic laureations however seem to have given rise to the appellation in question.-Id. Ib. LAW. LA'WFUL.

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LAW

Feare not: he betres an honourable minde,
And will not vse a woman lawlesly.

Laugh, lagh, lage, and ley; as inlaugh, utlage,
hundred-lagh, &c. It is merely the past tense
and past part. Lag, or læg, of the Goth. and
A. S. verb. Lagyan, lecgan, ponere, and it means
(something or any thing, chose, chosa, aliquid,) might have been, in all likelihood, somewhat restrained.

laid down, as a rule of conduct." Wachter had already said," All from Leg-en, ponere, statuere, constituere, (in the judgment of Stiernhielmus ;) for what is law, but something laid down or imposed either by God or nature, or of a people binding themselves, or of a prince_governing a people?"-Tooke adds,—The Lat. Lex (i. e. legs) is no other than our past part. Læg. Wachter,-If we think the Latin word (sc. lex) flowed from the same fountain, we shall wander far-nec a sensu Focis, nec a ratione temporis; since Scythian words are far more ancient than the Latin, and increased the Latin language with many additions. Any thing laid down, (sc.) as a rule of action; a rule imposed, fixed or established, decreed or determined; a statute or decree, an edict. And see, further, the quotations from Hooker and Dugald Stewart.

Laring of dogs,-see the quotation from Rastal, and EXPEDITATE. Lawing is used by Sir T. More and Holinshed as equivalent to litigation.

Laves he [Alfred] made rygtuollore, and strengore than
R. Gloucester, p. 266.

er were.

A man I salle the make, richely for to lyue,
Or my chefe justise, the lawes to mend and right.

R. Brunne, p. 69.
That lyuen with here handes
Leelythe and lawefullethe. Piers Plouhman, p. 150.
The heereris of lawe ben not just anentis God, but the
doers of the late schulen be maad iuste.-Wiclif. Rom. c. 2.
Lo thi disciplis don that thing that is not leeful to hem to

do in sabotis-Id. Matt. c. 12.

Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do pon the sabboth daye.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

And we witen that the law is good if ony man use it laweJuli-Wiclif. 1 Tym. c. 1.

Shakespeare. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. sc. 3.
How lawlessly vicious are the lives of too many, which
Bp. Hall. Imposicion of Handa, s. 14.
Gluttonie, malice, pride and covetize,
And lawlessnes raigning with riotize.

Spenser. Mother Hubberd's Tale.
for hardness of heart, is a doctrine of extravagance from the
To affirm the giving of any law or lawlike dispense to sin
sage principles of piety.-Millon. Doct. of Divorce, b. ii. c.7.

mooting of this point which is neither my element, nor my
proper work here.-Id. An Answer to Eikon Basilike.

To which and other law-tractates I refer the more lawyerly

as well as their own, and other men's actions, be conformable
The rules that they make for other men's actions, must,
to the law of nature, i. e. to the will of God, of which that is
preservation of mankind, no human sanction can be good,
a declaration, and the fundamental law of nature being the
or valid against it.

Locke. On Civil Government, b. ii. c. 11. s. 135.
presently."-"Then sir." said he, "I think it is lawful for
The king answered, "No put-offs my lord; answer me
you to take my brother Neale's money; for he offers it."
Johnson. Life of Waller.

If God's word be there [1 Tim. iv. 5.] taken for his law,
or revealed will, it is there signified, that our actions are
sanctified by their lawfulness, or conformity to that good
rule, God's declared will.-Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 1.

Were he a tyrant, who by lawless might
Oppress'd the Jews, and rais'd the Jebusite,
Well might I mourn.

Dryden. Absalom & Ahitophel.

These faculties and principles are the general latos of our
constitution, and hold the same place in the philosophy of
the mind that the general laws we investigate in physics,
hold in that branch of science.
Stewart. The Human Mind, pt. 2. Introd.

principles and forms of the new law, the lawyers gradually
As the freeholders were found ignorant of the intricate
brought all business before the king's judges, and aban
doned the ancient popular judicature.

Hume. History of England, vol. ii. App. 2.
LAWN. From the Fr. Linon.
LAWNY. Cotgrave calls it, and Linomple,—" a
(See LINEN.)
fine, thin, open-waled linnen, much used in

We know that the law is good, yf a man vse it lawfullye. Picardie, (where it is made) for women's kerchers

Bible, 1551. Ib.

Telle I prey,
If there be leful any weye,
Withoute sinne a man maie slea?-Gower. Con. A. b. iii.
Enmytie, laryng, emulacion and stryfe.

Sir T More. Workcs, p. 700.

The Lorde shalbe oure lawe-geuer.-Bible, 1551. Isay, c.33. But then goeth he furth and sheweth vs a solemne processe that God & necessitie is laweles.

Let not my verse your lawlike minds displease.
Gascoigne. The Fruits of Warre.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 428.

As though I had condempned the lawemaker, lawe, and Election thereof.-Barnes. Workes, p. 207.

and church-men's surplices."

The next to it in goodnesse, is the line called Byssus : the fine lawne or tiffanie wherof our wives and dames at home set so much store by for to trim and decke themselves: it groweth in Achaia within the territorie about Elis. Holland. Plinie, b. xix. c. 1.

In the third yeare of the raigne of Queene Elizabeth,
1562, beganne the knowledge and wearing of lawne, and
cambrick, which was then brought into England by very
small quantities.-Slow. King James, an. 1604.

It was an angry with her lawny veil,
That from his sight it enviously should hide her.
Drayton. Moses his Birth and Miracles, b. i.
That undeflour'd and unblemishable simplicity of the

Leer bauynge greate desyr to confyrme and establyshe Gospel-not she herself, for that would never be, but a false

the opinions by the lawe of man, say, that it is shame to peake without lawe.-Bible, 1551. Esdras, Pref.

And he whose dogge is not lawed and so founde, shalbe red, and shall pay for the same iii.s.

Batall. Collect. of Statutes, fol. 186. Charta de Forestå.

And such lawing shalbe done by the assise commonly that is to say, that iii. clawes of the forefoote shall bee of by the skin.-Id. Ib. c. 4. fol. 185.

Such a new hart and lusty courage vnto the lawward canst eper come by of thine owne strength & enforcement, by the operation and workyng of the Spirite. That which doth assign unto each thing the kinde, that Tyndall. Workes, p. 40. ch doth moderate the force and power, that which doth

whited, a lawny resemblance of her.

Milton. Reason of Church Government, b. ii. c. 3.
Those limbs, in lawn, and softest silk array'd,
From sun-beams guarded, and of winds afraid,
Can they bear angry Jove? can they resist
The parching Dog-star, and the bleak North-East?
Prior. Edwin & Emma.

The lawn-rob'd prelate and plain presbyter,
Ere-while that stood aloof, as shy to meet,
Familiar mingle here, like sister streams
That some rude interposing rock had split.

Blair. The Grave.
"Fr. Lande. A land, or laund;
a wild untilled, shrubby, or
bushy plain," (Cotgrave.) It.
and Sp. Landa.
it-" a plaine among trees," (Rem. 118.) It ap-
Camden calls

LAWND, or
LAUND.
LAWN.
LA'WNY.

at the forme and measure of working, the same we arme a law-Hooker, Ecclesiasticall Politie, b. i. § 2. and troubling another, that the veterane was more such lawing & vexation in the towns, one dailie pears to have been applied generally towith lawing within the towne, than he was in planted lands or woods. Plain land; lands untilled, extending between And under lynde in a launde. lenede ich a stounde To lithen here laies, and here loveliche notes. Piers Plouhman, p. 169. Id. p. 1.

at large with the enimie.

Holinshea. Conquest of Ireland, b. 11. c 33.

This Judicial trial of right] yet remains in some cases as dine lot of battle, though, controverted by divines, ing the lawfulnes of it.-Bacon. Charge against Duels.

I be evil, this is the very end of lawgiving, to abolish
customs by wholesome laws.-Milton. Tetrachordon.

And wrong repressed, and establisht right,
Which lawless men had formerly fordonne.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. v. c. 1

LAY

Loe from the hill above on th' other side,
Through the wide lawnds, they gan to take their course.
Surrey. Virgile. Æneis, b. iv.
He [Sir John Chandos] lost the sight [of ye one eye] a fyue
yere before, as he hunted after an hart in the laundes of
Burdeaux.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 270.

Sink. Vnder this thick growne brake, wee'l shrow'd
ourselues.
For through this laund anon the deere will come.
Shakespeare. 1 Pt. Hen. VI. Act iii. sc. 1
The buck forsakes the lawns where he hath fed,
Fearing the hunt should view his velvet head.

Drayton. Pastorals, Ecl. 1.
Thro' forrests, mountains, or the lawny ground
If 't happ you see a maid weepe forth her woe,
As I have done; oh! bid her, as ye goe,
Not lavish tears.-Browne. Britannia's Pastorals, b.ii. s. 1.
Stern beasts in trains that by his truncheon fell,
Now grisly forms, shoot o'er the lawns of hell.

Pope. Homer. Odyssey, b. xi.
Close was the vale and shady; yet ere long
Its forest's sides retiring, left a lawn
Of ample circuit, where the widening stream
Now o'er its pebbled channel nimbly trips
In many a lucid maze.-Mason. English Garden, b. iii.
They, along

The lawny vale, of every beauteous stone,
Pile in the roseat air with fond expense.

LAX, adj.
LAX, or
LASK, n.
LAXATION.
LAXATIVE, adj.
LA'XATIVE, n.
LA'XITY.

Dyer. The Ruins of Rome. Fr. Laxatif, (lascher, to loose;) It. Lassativo; Sp. Laxativo; Lat. Laxativus, from lax-are, to loose. The lax, or laske, (as Holland writes it,) Minshew terms,laritas intestinorum. Cotgrave explains laxité laxaLax, the adj.

LA'XNESS.

tiveness.
Loose, slack, untied, unfastened, unconstrained,
unrestricted, dissolute.

"A day or two ye shul han digestives
Of wormes, or ye take your laxatives."

Chaucer. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 14,868. "Now, sire," quod she," when we flee fro the beames, For Goddes love, as take some laxatif."-Id. Ib. v.14,950. If the juice thereof [garden skirwort] be drunke with goat's milke, it stayeth the flux of the belly called the laske. Holland. Plinie, b. xx. c. 5.

Mean while inhabit laxe, ye Powers of Heav'n.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vii.
So all I wish must settle in this sum
That more strength from laxations come.

Cartwright. A New-Year's Gift to a Noble Lord. Is it imaginable there should be among these a law which God allow'd not, a law giving permissions laxative to unmarry a wife and marry a lust, a law to suffer a kind of tribunal adultery?-Milton. Tetrachordon.

The vehicle of water and hony, is of a laxative power itself.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. ii. c. 3.

If sometimes it cause any laxity it is in the same way with iron unprepared, which will disturb some bodies, and work by purge and vomit.-Id. Ib. b. ii. c. 3.

The flesh of that sort of fish being lax, and spungy, and nothing so firm, solid and weighty as that of the bony fishes. Ray. On the Creation, pt. ii. Rye is more acid, laxative, and less nourishing than wheat.-Arbuthnot. Nature of Aliments, c. 3. Prop. 4. Whence there ariseth a laxity and indigestion in the wound.-Wiseman. Surgery, b. vi. c. 5.

The word æternus itself is sometimes of a lax signification, as every learned man knows, and sedet, æternumque sedebit, may mean; as long as he remains in Tartarus. Jorlin. On the Christian Religion, Dis. 6.

For the free passage of the sound into the ear, it is requisite that the tympanum be tense, and hard stretched, otherwise, the laxness of that membrane will certainly dead and crany the sound.-Holder. Elements of Speech.

LAY, n. Mr. Tyrwhitt is inclined to believe, "that the Isl. Liod, Ger. Lied, A. S. Leoth, and Fr. Lai, are all to be deduced from the same Goth. original." Wachter leads us to this original; he derives the Ger. Lied from the verb, "Lauten, canere, sonare; Dut. Luiden; Sw. Liuda ;' which are themselves from the A. S. Hlyd-an, to Chaucer. The Complaint of the Black Knight. Hlowan, from which is also formed hleoth-rian, make a (loud) noise, to low or bellow, A. S.

And in a lande as ich lay.
And through a laund as I yede a pace.

All softe walkende on the gras
Tyll she came where the launde was.
Through whiche there ran a great riuere.

1197

canere.

And leoth (the initial h omitted) is said by Somner to be not only "a verse, a song, a song Gower. Con. A. b. iv. of rejoicing, an ode or psalm, but a shout or noise;

(though he restricts it (improperly) to the shout

This retreat, so suited to the genius of a Gray, or a Milton, is now occupied by a lay-brother, who resides in it merely to

success.-Eustace. Italy, vol. iii. c. 10.

or noise) which mariners make when they doe any keep it clean, a task which he performs with great care and thing together, or when the matter doth call or encourage them." Mariners still retain the same custom, and the noise they make confirms the etymology, viz. hlow-eth, lowth, the third person of the verb hlowan, and whence leoth, a low or lay. For Mr. Tyrwhitt's definition of the word lay, see the quotation from him: the explanation of Somner is more ample and satisfactory.

And under lynde in a launde. lenede ich a stounde To lithen here laies. and her loveliche notes.

Piers Plouhman, p. 169.

The progress of the ecclesiastical authority gave birth to the memorable distinction of the laity and of the clergy, which had been unknown to the Greeks and Romans. The former of these appellations comprehended the body of the christian people.-Gibbon. Roman Empire, c. 15.

Goth. Lag-yan; A. S. Lec-gan; Dut. Leggen; Ger. Leg-en; Sw. Legga; ponere, to put or place. To put or place; literally and metaphorically; literally, when a

LAY, v.
LAY, n.
LAYER.
LA'YING, n.
LA'YSTALL.
state of rest is intended.
Used with prepositions it is equivalent to the
Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9755. Lat. verb Ponere, to put or place, and its com-
pounds; thus,-

And in a lettre wrote he all his sorwe, In manere of a complaint or a lay Unto his faire freshe lady May.

Thise olde gentil Bretons in hir dayes

Of diuers auentures maden layes,
Rimeyed in hire firste Breton tonge;
Which layes with hir instruments they songe,

To lay or put down; to deposit; to lay or put upon; to impose; to lay or put out, or before, to expose; to lay or put together; to compose; to Id. The Frankeleines Prologue, v. 11,022. lay, put, or place near to; (in apposition;) to put

Or elles redden hem for hir plesance.

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LAY, adj. LA'IC, adj. LA'IC, n.

LA'ICAL.

LA'ITY.

LA'YMAN.

Fr. Lai, lay; It. Laico; Sp. Lego; Dut. Leeck; Ger. Ley. By the Anglo-Saxons, says Junius, lawede man was formerly called laicus, profanus; whence has remained to this day the word lewd; and Tooke affirms that lew'd is the past part. and lay the past tense, and therefore past part. of the A. S. verb Law-an, prodere, to delude, to mislead; and means, "misled, led astray, deluded, imposed upon, betrayed into error." Hence it was applied

to

The common people, the vulgar, from their ignorance, so easily misled; and subsequently, by the arrogance of the clergy, to all not of their order. See the quotation from Gibbon ; and LEWD. Lered men & lay, fre & bond of toune.

R. Brunne, p. 171. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, & vnderstode that they were vnlerned men and lay people, they marueyled.—Bible, 1551. Acts, c. 4.

If he be of the lay sorte, so ioyneth he himself vnto the false prophetes, to persecute the truth. Tyndall. Workes, p. 189. He enteded to set forth Luther's heresy teching that presthed is no sacrament, but the office of a lay-man or a laywomu appointed by the people to preache.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 442. No wonder though the people grew profane, When churchmen's lives gave laymen leave to fall. Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. iv.

They should be still frequented with such an unprincipl'd, unedify'd, and laie-rabble, as that the whiff of every new pamphlet should stagger them out of their catechism and Christian walking.-Milton. Of Unlicens'd Printing.

Needs must it be, that as laicks, so priests also, of whom men are created, should yeeld their service to the divine will and preordination to the creating of them.

Bp. Hall. Honour of the Maried Clergie, b. iii. Conc. A flattering priest (for in all ages the clericall will flatter, as well as the laicall) tolde him that his godlines and virtues fustly deserved to have in this world the empire of the world, and in the world to come, to raigne with the sonne of God. Camden. Remaines. Wise Speeches.

The laity perceiuing either none, or else verie few to bee remaining at home, entred the cleark's lodgings, and carried away a great deal and many kinds of stuffe.

Stow. Edw. I. an. 1295.

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or place in their proper places, to dispose: to put or place up, in store, at rest; to repose.

It has very numerous consequential applications, which may be inferred from the context of the sentence in which they occur.

A layman employed by painters, may be that upon which drapery is layed.

The Romaynes laie sone adoun, he made emty place,
And the Britones a ryse faste. R. Gloucester, p. 50.
The Kyng his castelle sesis, and held ther his pask day,
Him and his ther esis, and alle that feste ther lay.
R. Brunne, p. 271.
And whanne Poul hadde leid on hem hise hondis the Holi

Goost cam in him.-Wiclif. Dedis, c. 19.

And Paull layd hys handes vpon them, and the Holy
Gooste came on the.-Bible, 1551. Ib.
There dorste no wight hond upon him legge.

Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 3935. That I myghte desyre of hym a prosperous iourney and a good waye for vs, yea for vs, for our children & for ye cattell, because of the layinges a wayte.

Bible, 1551. 3 Esdras, c. 8. This place of Smythfeelde was at yt daye a laye stowe of all order of fylth.-Fabyan, vol. i. c. 226.

The Britains also assembling togither in companies, greatlie annoied the Saxons as they lay there at siege. Holinshed. Historie of England, b. v. c. 9.

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The King of Ava, in revenge of his vassal the King of Tangu, with an armie of 120.000 men, and a fleet of 400 vessels, laid siege to Brito in his strong fort of Siriam.

Mickle. Hist. of the Portuguese Empire in Asia. Many trees may be propagated by layers, the evergreens about Bartholomew tide, and other trees about the month of

February.-Miller. Gardener's Dictionary.

If they do not comply well in the laying of them down, they must be pegged down with a hook or two.-Id. Ib. [Crispin Pass] describes the use of the Maneken or layman for disposing draperies.

Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. v. Engravers.

LAZAR. LA'ZARD. LA'ZARET.

Some (says Junius) think lazer so used from Lazarus, the beggar. Fr. Ladrerie, lazaret; LAZARETTO. It. Lazaretto; Dut. Lasereisch. A place for lazers, or lepers; for those afflicted with any sort of disease or malady.

Better than a lazar or a beggere.

Chaucer. Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, v. 242. Immediately a place Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noysom, dark, A lazar-house it seem'd, wherin were laid Numbers of all diseas'd, all maladies.

Millon. Paradise Lost, b. xi. Forlorn, a friendless orphan oft to roam, Craving some kind, some hospitable home; Or, like Ulysses, a low lazar stand Beseeching pity's eye, and bounty's hand.

Savage. The Wanderer, c. 5 Did piteous lazards oft attend her door? She gave-farewell the parent of the poor.

Id. Epitaph on Mrs. Jones. The same penalty also attends persons escaping from the lazarets, or places wherein quarantine is to be performed. Blackstone. Commentaries, b. iv. c. 13.

Thus he [St. Charles Borromeo] founded schools, colleges, and hospitals, built parochial churches, most affectionately attended his flock during a destructive pestilence, erected a lazaretto, and served the forsaken victims with his own hands.-Eustace. Italy, vol. iv. c. 1.

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And because it workes better when any thing seemeth to Inactive, inert, slow, slothful, sluggish, indolent. be gotten from you by question, than if you offer it of your-To laze, to be or remain inactive or slothful; to selfe, you may lay a bait for a question, by showing another live or spend the time slothfully or sluggishly. visage and countenance, than you are wont.

Bacon. Ess. Of Cunning.

To some men he seemed too desirous of glory and indeed that passion, amongst all other, euen of wise men is last layed away.-Savile. Tacitus. Historie, p. 140.

In plastering likewise of our fairest houses ouer our heads, we vse to laie first a laine (layer, stratum) or two of white mortar tempered with haire vpon laths.

Holinshed. The Description of England, b. ii. c. 12. Sir Walter looked upon it as an uneven lay to stake himself against Sir Amias, a private and single person, though of good birth and courage; yet of no considerable estate. Oldys. Life of Sir Walter Ralegh. The hard gravel, or pebble, at the first laying, will not suffer the grasse to come forth upright. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 565. Scarce could he footing find in that foule way For many corses, like a great lay-stall, Of murd❜red men.-Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 6. Before this time, Smithfield was a loistal of all ordure and filth, and the place where felons were put to execution. Bacon. Hen. I. an. 1112.

If he will live, abroad, with his companions,
In dung and leystalls; it is worth a feare.

B. Jonson. Every Man in his Humour, Act ii. sc. 5.
With watching overworn, with cares opprest,
Unhappy I had laid me down to rest;
And heavy sleep my weary limbs possest.

Dryden. Virgil. Eneis, b. vi. Pompey, who then lay about Candavia, hearing of Cæsar's arrival, and being in pain for Dyrrhachium, marched that way.-Rowe. Lucan, b. v. Arg.

The whole body of the church [at Sienna] is chequer'd with different lays of white and black marble.-Addison. Italy.

For what remains you are to have a layman almost as big as the life, for every figure in particular; a figure of wood, or cork, turning upon joints.

Dryden. Du Fresnoy. Art of Painting, § 220.

Up, and laze not!

Hadst thou my business, thou couldst ne'er sit so.
Middleton. The Witch, Act i. sc. 1
Fer. No, precious creature!

I had rather cracke my sinewes, break my backe,
Then you should such dishonour vndergoe
While I sit lazy by.-Shakespeare. Tempest, Act iii. sc. 1.
Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy, leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace.

Milton. Ode on Time.

That wit, born apt high good to do,
By dwelling lazily
On Nature's nothing, be not nothing too.

Donne. The Doctors. I might have been more exact in new modelling, and could perhaps have given them a turn that would have been more agreeable to some fancies, but my laziness, or my judgment made me think there was no need of that trouble. Glanvill, Ess. Pref.

He that takes liberty to laze himself, and dull his spirits for lack of use, shall find the more he sleeps, the more he shall be drowsy; till he become a very slave to his bed, and make sleep his master.

Whateley. Redemption of Time, (1634,) p. 23. (The consideration of our latter end will engage us) not to be lazy and loitering in the dispatch of our onely considerable business concerning eternity.-Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 14.

Shall we keep our hands in our bosome, or stretch our selves on our beds of laziness, while all the world about us is hard at work. in pursuing the designs of its creation. Id. Ib. Ser. 19 Oh! could I give the vast ideas birth Expressive of the thoughts that flame within, No more should lazy luxury detain Our ardent youth-Akenside. A British Philippic. Thro' tedious channels the congealing flood Crawls lazily, and hardly wanders on.

Armstrong. The Art of Preserving Health

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Dodsley. The Footman.

LEA. A. S. Leag, ley. Somner calls it, LEASE. terra inculta, lay-land, land that LE'ASOW. beth untilled. Gower uses the expression" the lease, which is plaine;" Verstegan takes Legh, ley, or lea, "to signifie ground that Beth unmanured, and wildly overgrowne." And Skinner says, that a lay or lea of land may perhaps be from the A. S. Lec-gan, ponere, to lay, because in the year we allow it to remain untilled, we lay dung upon it. And see the quotations from Beaum. & Fletch. and Dryden; who write it lay. There is, however, in the A. S. the verb Læsw-ian, pascere, pabulari, to feed, to foster, or pasture cattle, as is usual on commons; and the noun Lase, pascuum, feeding ground or pasture, a leese or common. Wiclif uses both verb and noun. And see Lesuris in Jamieson.

From plain or pasture land it is extended to the plain surface of water. See the first quotation from Spenser.

LEA

He fashioneth the clay with the arm, and boweth down
his strength before his feet; he applieth himself to lead it
over; and he is diligent to make clean the surface.
Bible. Ecclesiastes, xxxviii. 30.
Midacritus was the first man that brought lead out of the

island Cassiteris.-Holland. Plinie, b. vii. c. 56.

For thy he thril'd thee with a leaden dart
To love fair Daphne, which thee loved lesse.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 11.

which I can show you so like steel, and so unlike common
There is a great difference, and discernable even to the
lead-ore, that the workmen upon that account are pleased
eye, betwixt the several ores; for instance, of lead, some of
to call it steel-ore.-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 323.

A leaden tower upheaves its heavy head,
Large leaden arches press the slimy bed,
The soft soil swells beneath the load of lead.

LEAD, v.
LEAD, n.
LE'ADER.
LE'ADING, n.
LE'ADMAN.

Fawkes. The Temple of Dulness. A. S. Læd-an; Dut. Leyd-en, leed-en; Ger. Leyten; Sw. Led-a,

ducere.

duce to follow; to conduce or conduct; to induce,
To go before as guide or con-
ductor; to show the way or in-
attract, or persuade, to regulate the course; to
draw on; to cause to follow or pursue.

And not fer fro hem was a flock of many swyn lesewynge. to the compounds of the Lat. Ducere; e. g. to
Lead, with prepositions, is used as equivalent
abduce, to adduce, &c.

Of welles swete and colde ynow, of lesen and of mede.
R. Gloucester, p. 1.
And he schal go yn and schal go out, and he schal fynde
Wiclif. Matthew, c. 8.
lewis-Id. Jon, c. 10.

And upon this, also men sayn,

That fro the lease, which is plaine

Into the breres thei forcatche.-Gower. Con. A. Prol.

The horse ybred in holte

And fed on lusty lease,

la time will champe the fomie bit

His rider's will to please.

Tarbervile. That Time conquereth all Things.

Let wife, and land,

Lie lag till I return.

Beaum. & Fletch. Love's Pilgrimage, Act iii. sc. 3.

As when two warlike brigandines at sea,

With murd'rous weapons arm'd to cruell fight,

De meete together on the wat'ry lea,

They stemme ech other with so fell despight.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. 2.

Though many a load of marle and manure layd,
Reviv'd his barren leas, that erst lay dead.
Bp. Hall, b. v. Sat. 1.

Fye, shepheard's swaine, why sitt'st thou all alone
Whilst other lads are sporting on the leyes?

y may have company, but Grief hath none,
Where Pleasure never came, sports cannot please.
Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, b. i. s. 3.

All the forenamed places the said Earle gaue and granted

he said John, sonne to the King of England, for euerwith his daughter, so freelie, wholie and quietlie, (in and cities, castels, fortresses, or other places of defense, &netowes, leassewes, &c.)-Holinshed. Hen. II. an. 1173.

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That he wolde to his Godes his ofryng lede.
To hys mayne he seyde,
R. Gloucester, p. 25.
He ariued at Southhampton, as the wynd hym had y lad.
Id. p. 91.

The Scottes & the Peihtes togider gan thei chace,
To waste alle Northumberland, the godes away thei ledde.
R. Brunne, p. 7.

And he that best laborede. best was alowede
And leders for here laborynge. overe al the lordes goodes.
Piers Plouhman, p. 141.
Thei ben blynde and leederis of blynde men, and if a
blinde man lede a blynde man, bothe fallen downe in the
diche. Wiclif. Matthew, c. 15.

They be the blynde leaders of the blynde. If the blynde
leade the blynde, bothe fall into the dyche.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

hey that shoulde be brasse, tynne, yron, and leade, the fyre become drosse.-Bible, 1551. Ezekiel, c. 22. Becauseth th' one to rage with golden burning dart, A Goth alay with leaden cold again the other's hart. Surrey. Description of the Fickle Affections, &c.

This knight is to his chambre ladde anon
And is unarm'd, and to his mete ysette.

Chaucer. The Squieres Tale, v. 10,486.
And Hanniball was thilke while
The prince and leader of Carthage.-Gower. Con. A. b. v.

Hir fader, whiche in Romaine
The ledynge of the chiualrie

In gouernance hath vndertake.-Id. Ib. b. vii.

What supports me, dost thou ask?

The conscience, friend, t'have lost them overply'd

In liberty's defense, my noble task,

Of which all Europe talks from side to side.

This thought might lead me through the world's vain

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So that we may justly impute all that was extraordinary
in the valour of Cæsar's men, to their long exercise vnder a
good leader, in so great a warre.-Hakewill. Apol. b. iv. s. 9.

men, and committed them to the leading of Dillius Vocula,
Flaccus selected out of his legions a company of chosen
lieutenant of the eighteenth legion.-Savile. Tacitus, p.151.

Such a light and mettled dance
Saw you never,

And by leadmen for the nonce,

That turn round like grindle stones.-B. Jonson.

I se it by ensample in sommer time on trees
There some bowes ben leued, and some bere none.
Piers Plouhman. Vision, p. 78.
Id. Ib. p. 306.

Alle the leves fallen.
And he saugh a fige tre bisidis the weye and cam to it
and fond nothing therynne but leeves onely.

Why would my Muse enlarge on Lybian swains;
Their scatter'd cottages, and ample plains?
Where oft the flocks, without a leader, stray.
Dryden. Virgil, Georg. 3.

Then why, like ill-condition'd children,
Start we at transient hardships in the way
That leads to purer air and softer skies,
And a ne'er setting sun?
Blair. Grave.

Wiclif. Matthew, c. 21. And spied a fygge tree in the waye, and came to it, and fonde nothyng theron but leues onely.-Bible, 1551. 16. Turne over the leaf, and chese another tale.

Chaucer. The Milleres Prologue, v. 3237. Archigallus was thus restored to the kingdome, and learned by due correction that he must turne the leafe, and take out a new lesson, by changing his former trade of liuing into better, if he would reigne in suertie.

He try'd each art, reprov'd each dull delay,
Allur'd to brighter worlds and led the way.
Goldsmith. Deserted Village.

The raciall colour whiche was wonte to be in his visage, apprehensions.-Burke. On a Regicide Peace, Let. 3.

The party which takes the lead there has no longer any

ned into a salowe, the resydue pale, his ruddy lippes

bis eyen ledy and holowe.

Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, b. ii. c. 12. position.-Id. Ib. Let 1

1

I thank God, I am neither a minister nor a leader of op

1199

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Sing no more ditties, sing no moe,
Of dumps so dull and heauy,
The fraud of men were euer so,
Since summer first was leafy.

Id. Much Adoe about Nothing, Act ii. sc. 3.

I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the
two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut.
Bible. Modern Version. Isaiah, xxiv. 1.
For most trees do begin to sprout in the fall of the leaf or
autumn, and if not kept back by cold and outward causes,
would leaf about the solstice.

Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. ii. c. 6.
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;
Another race the following Spring supplies:
They fall successive, and successive rise.

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Mason. Isis, a Monologue.
Fr. Ligue; It. Lega; Sp.
Liga; Low Lat. Liga, a bond,
(Voss. de Vit. lib. iii. c. 20.) See LIEGE.
a confederation, -a ligando.
covenants; a covenant, a combination, a confe-
A bond or obligation, (sc.) to perform certain
deracy.

Furthermore signifying that he dyd consecrate a newe
league of the euangelical profession by this misterie.
Udal. Matt. c. 26.

Within his breast, as in a palace, lye
Wakeful ambition leagu'd with hasty pride.

P. Fletcher. Upon the Picture of Achmet.
As th' earnest to confirm and ratify
The league between them two, newly begun.

Daniel. Civil Wars, b. viii.
Wee, and our friends, are seconded from Italy, Spayne,
Flaunders, and Germany, besides the matchlesse strength
of resolute leaguer, in this holy vnion.

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LEA

Fr. Lieue; It. Lega; Sp. LEAGUE, n. Legua; Lat. Leuca. The most ancient instance of the Lat. word, which Vossius had met with, is in the original of the passage quoted from Ammianus. The true reading of the word is uncertain. Spelman writes it leuca, leuga, leuica, and lega; the etymology is unknown. (See Vossius, de Vit. lib. ii. c. 11, and lib. iii. c. 12.) Also Spelman, in v. Leuca, and Menage, in v. Lieue.

The storme was so hedebuse, that in lasse than a day they were driuen a hundred leages fro the place wher they were before.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycle, vol. i. c. 81.

From the place whence the Romanes advaunced their standerds unto the barbarians fort, it was fourteene leagues, that is to say, one and twentie miles. Holland. Ammianus, p. 69. That some few leagues should make this change, To man unlearn'd seems mighty strange.

LEAM, or LIAM.

A hunter's word, (Skinner).
The cord or string with which
dogs are lead is so called from the Fr. Lien, a band.
See LIME.

But lyckynge the legges and handes of the man, whiche laye dysmayde, lokinge for deathe [the lion] toke acquaintance of him, and euer after folowed hym, beynge ladde in a

small lyam.-Sir T. Elyot. Governor, b. ii. c. 13.

My hound then in my lyam, I by the woodman's art
Forecast where I may lodge the goodly high-palm'd hart.
Drayton. The Muses' Elysium, Nymphal 6.

LEAN, v.
A. S. Hlion-an, hlyn-ian; Ger.
LEANING, n. and Dut. Lenen; Sw. Laena, re-
cumbere, inclinare, inniti :-

To press against in an oblique direction; to incline, to recline, to repose; to be out of an upright position; to incline or bend towards, or Prior. Alma, c. 2. have an inclination for.

Some traverse many a league of country o'er,
And some review their native seats no more.

Hoole. Orlando Furioso, b. xx.

LEAGUER, v. Į See BELEAGUE. Ger. LagLEAGUER, n. Jen; Dut. Laeg-hen; A. S. Lic-yan, to lay; Ger. Lager; Dut. Legher; (Sw. Laeger, from ligga, quatenus commorari notât,Ihre.) A camp; or are laid.

where an army or body of soldiers lay

A town leaguer'd,-a town before which an army or host is laid, (sc. to assault or attack it.)

When as it was perceiued that their slender ranks were not able to resist the thicke leghers of the enemies, they began to shrinke and looke backe one vpon an other, and so of force were constreined to retire.

Holinshed. Historie of England, b. vi. c. 13. That 'tis not strange your laundress in the leaguer Grew mad with love of you.

Massinger. The Fatal Dowry, Act iii. sc. 1.

For know, though I appear less eager,
I never mean to raise my leaguer,
Till or by storm, or else by famine,
I force you to the place I am in.

Cotton. To John Bradshaw, Esq.

Two mighty hosts a leaguer'd town embrace,
And one would pillage, one would burn the place.
Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. xviii.

I'm none of those that took Maestrick,
Nor Yarmouth leaguer knew.

Rochester. Upon drinking in a Bowl.

LEAK, v. LEAK, N. LEAK, adj. LEAKAGE. To gape or open; and, conseLE'AKY. quentially, to admit or emit, (sc.) any fluid; to admit or let in, to emit, or let, or drop out; to be unable to contain or retain.

Ger. Lechen, lachen, hiare; Dut. Leck, rima, a chink: leck schip, navis rimosa.

Seldome chaunseth it, that whoso lyke a foole placeth hymselfe in a leakinge shyppe with such as after, by misfortune, be cast into the sea, doothe scape alyue to lande, and all the reste be drowned.-Sir T. More. Workes, p.1386.

He by Sithrike's procurement was sent to Flanders in a ship that leaked, and so was drowned.

Holinshed. Historie of England, b. vi. c. 19.

Fool. Her boat hath a leak,
And she must not speak
Why she dares not come over to thee.

Shakespeare. Lear, Act iii. sc. 6.

And fifty sisters water in leke vessels draw. Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 5. Gonz. Ile warrent him for drowning, though the ship were no stronger than a nutt-shell, and as leaky as an vnstaunched wench.-Shakespeare. Tempest, Act i. sc. 1. [They found] a cask in one place, and a cask in another;some stay'd against the trees, and leek'd out. Dampier. Voyage, b. ii. pt. iii. c. 6.

As, when
Against a secret cliff, with sudden shock
A ship is dash'd, and leaking drinks the sea.

J. Philips. Cider, b. ii.
When unrelenting thus the leaks they found,
The clattering pumps with clanking strokes resound.
Falconer. The Shipwreck, c. 2.
To accumulate their misfortunes, they were soon obliged
to cut away their bowsprit, to diminish, if possible, the
Leakage at the head.-Anson. Voy. round the World, b. i. c.3.
There is no blab like to the quest'ning fool;
Ev'n scarce before you turn yourself about,
Whate'er he hears his leaky tongue runs out.

Hamilton. Horace, b. i. Epist. 18.

And lende vp hys sseld, & harkned hym ynou. R. Gloucester, p. 308. Unto the someres tide ther gan he lende. R. Brunne, p. 18. And in a lande, as Ich lay, lenede Ich & slepte. Piers Plouhman, p. 1. Set me that I maye touche the pillers that the house stande vpon, and that I may leane to them. Bible, 1551. Judges, c. 16. Whereon the queen her weak estate might lean. Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. iii. Leaning long upon any part maketh it mumme, and, as we call it, asleep.-Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 735. There's not a blessing individuals find, But some way leans and hearkens to the kind.

Pope. Essay on Man, Epist. 4.

It is this; that faith is not an assent to propositions of any kind, but a recumbency, leaning, resting, rolling upon, adherency to (for they express themselves in these several terms, and others like them) the person of Christ. Barrow, vol. ii. Ser. 4. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And ev'n his failings lean'd to virtue's side. Goldsmith. The Deserted Village. The mover being a person in office, was, however, the only indication, that was given of such a leaning. Burke. Letter to T. Burgh, Esq. A. S. Hlan-ian, lan-ian, mato be or cerare, marcessere ; become or cause to be thin or meagre. And the adjective lean,—

LEAN, adj. LE'ANNESS.

LE'ANY.

Thin, meagre, poor; having no flesh or fleshy substance; no wholesome or nutritious substance, or quality.

But God wot what that May thought in hire herte,
Whan she him saw up sitting in his sherte
In his night cap, and with his necke lene.

Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9727.

Id. Rom. of the Rose.

Not halfe so pale was Avarice,
Ne nothing like of leannesse.
The hors on whiche she rode was blacke,
All leane, and galled vpon the backe.-Gower. Con. A. b.iv.
And then, vii. other kyne came vp after them, poore and
very euyl fauored and leane fleshed.-Bible, 1551. Gen. c.41.
Theyr bodye is worne awaye with leanesse.

Udal. Matthew, c. 7.

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No drought, no leanenesse that can draw
The moysture from the wither'd limmes.
Beaumont. A Funeralle Hymne out of Prudentius.
They han fat kernes, and leany knaves,
Their fasting flockes to keepe.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. August.
Thirst, leanness, excess of animal secretions, are signs
and effects of too great thinness of blood.
Arbuthnot. Of Aliments, c. 2.
Now while the stomach from the full repast
Subsides, but ere returning hunger gnaws,
Ye leaner habits, give an hour to toil.
Armstrong. The Art of Preserving Health, b. ii.

Dut. Loop-en; Ger. Lauffen;
Sw. Loepa, currere, to run;
Goth. Hlaup-an; A. S. Hleap-an,
salire, saltare, to leap or skip,

LEAP, v. LEAP, n. LE APER. LEAPING, n. (Somner) See LOPE.

To move at springs or bounds, as distinguished from the step in walking or running; to jump, to spring, to bound. See the quotation from Brown.

Leap-year, (see BISSEXTILE,) q.d. annus saltans, because it leaps over, i. e. exceeds others by one day, (Skinner.)

Leaper is in speech a common word.

And somme lepte her & there. R. Gloucester, p. 396.
He & othr wt hym. that hulde nougt wt treuthe
Piers Ploukman, p. 18.
Lopen out in lotchliche forme.

& [modris] seide with a greet voice, rise, thou upright on
thi feet: and he lippide and walkide.-Wiclif. Dedis, c. 14.
The wif came leping inward at a renne,
She sayd, "Alas! youre hors goth to the fenne."
Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 4077.
And she whiche toke of death no kepe,
Anone forth lepte in to the depe.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv.
And euen so shal the children of M. More's faythlesse faith,
made by the persuation of må, leap short of the rest which
our Sauiour Jesus is rise vnto.-Tyndall. Workes, p. 268.

Johan, come out at some windowe and speke with us, and we shall receive you make a leape, in lykewise as ye haue made some of us to leape wt in this yer, yt behoueth you to make this leape.-Berners. Froissart. Cronycie, c. 378.

A man leapeth better with weights in his hands, than without. The cause is, for that the weight, (if it be proportionable,) strengtheneth the sinewes, by contracting them. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 696.

And laughing lope to a tree.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calender. April. More famous long agone, than for the salmon's leap For beavers Tivy was. Drayton, Poly-Olbion, s. 6. One Barrow made a leap from a vain and libertine youth, to a preciseness in the highest degree.

Bacon. Observations on a Libel.

Or whether they move per frontem et quadratum, as Scaliger terms it, upon a square base, the legs of both sides moving together, as frogs and salient animals, which is properly called leaping.-Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. iv. c. 6.

Some late writers vppon hope of reward or to curry fauor, with time and state, haue very vaingloriously recommended vnto endles memory, many land-leapers, bragging cowards, &c.-Stow. Q. Elizabeth, an. 1602.

On the fiue and twentith daie of Februarie, being Shrouesundaie in the leape yeare, they were solemnlie crowned by the Bishop of Winchester.-Holinshed. Edw. II. 3D. 1308. With stilts and lope staves that do aptliest wade. Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. i. Whether the bull or courser be thy care, Let him not leap the cow, nor mount the mare.

Dryden. Virgil, Geor. 3. It is a short history of the lover's leap, and is inscribed. An account of the persons male and female, who offered up their vows in the temple of the Pythian Apollo in the fortysixth Olympiad, and leaped from the promontory of Leucate into the Ionian Sea, in order to cure themselves of the passion of love.-Spectator, No. 233.

The space of a year is a determinate and well-known period, consisting commonly of 365 days; for, though in bissextile or leap-years it consists properly of 366, yet by the statute 21 Hen. iii. the increasing day in the leap-year, toge ther with the preceding day, shall be accounted for one day only. Blackstone. Commentaries, b. ii. c. 9.

LEAP, or Lepe.

LE PEFUL.

A. S. Leap, calathus, a basket hamper or pannier of osiers, (Som ner.)

In lepes & in coufles so muche vyss hii ssolde hym brynge R. Gloucester, p. 265 Thei token up that, that lefte of relifs sevene leepis. Wiclif. Mark, c. & And leeten hym doun in a leap bi the wal.

Id. Dedis, C. And bi a wyndow in a leep I was latun doun bi a wal. Id. 2 Corynth. c. 1 And alle eeten and weren fulfilld and thei token that th was left of relifis sevene lepfull.-Id. Matthew, c. 15. LEAR. See LERE. LEARN, v. LEARNER. LEARNING. LEARNEDISH. LEARNEDLY.

A. S. Læran; Ger. Leren Dut. Lecren; Sw. Learn; O English, to lere (qv.); A. Leornian; Ger. Lernen, learn. The Goth. is Laisyar the Ger. have lesen, as well as leren, and lerne the Goth. Lis-an, and the A. S. Lis-an, and lesa legere, colligere; to glean, to gather, to collec Eng. to lease, (sc. corn.) See LEASE, LEASER.

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