L.

L is called by B. Jonson a letter half-vowelish, which though the Italians (especially the Florentines) abhor, we keep entire with the Latins, and so pronounce. It is not used (says Wilkins) by the Brasileans, nor the men of Japan: others style it the sweetest of all letters. It melteth (B. Jonson adds) in the sounding, and is therefore cailed a liquid, the tongue striking the root of the palate gently; Wilkins, the top of the tongue striking against the foremost part of the palate. It unites very easily with C and G in pronunciation, as in Clinch, Gloom, (qqv.) It is doubled, where the vowel sounds hard upon it; with no necessity: unless a syllable follow which may require the continuance of its sound; as in kil-ling, fil-ling, wil-ling.

LAB. "I am no lab;" i.e. no be-lab, or blab; Dut. Labberen. (See BLAB.) Consequentially,To pour forth from the lips whatever occurs to us; to tell all that we think or know; to prate or talk, thoughtlessly, carelessly, without reserve or discrimination.

— I am no labbe,

Ne though I say it, I n' am not lefe to gabbe.

Chaucer. The Milleres Tale, v. 8505.

I have a wif, though that she poure be;
But of hire tongue a labbing shrewe is she.

Id. The Squieres Tale, v. 10,301. LABEL, n. Fr. "Lambeau, a shread, rag, LABEL, V. for small piece of stuff. Labels hanging downe on garlands or crownes, a labando of falling downe," (Minshew.) Skinner prefers the Ger. Lapp. See LAP.

Any thing falling or depending, suspended or appended; a name, title or description, appended, or, (as now used,) otherwise affixed.

Then haste thou a labell, that is shapen like a rule, saue that it is strait and hath no plates on either ende. Chaucer. The Astrolabie.

It [my beautie] shalbe inuentoried and euery particle and vtensile labell'd to my will. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, Act i. sc. 5.

The said Sir William said on his oth in the tenth yeare of Henrie the fourth, that before the times of Edward the third, the labell of three points was the different appropriat and appurtenant for the cognizance of the next heire. Holinshed. Rich. II. an. 1390.

Until the subtlest of their conjurors
Seal'd up the labels to his soul-his ears.
Butler. On the Licentious Age of Charles II.

VOL. II.

LA'BIAL, adj. Lat. Labium; Fr. Lèvre; LA'BIAL, n. It. Labbra, labio; the lip. That may be, that are, (formed by, spoken by) the lips.

The Hebrews have been diligent in it, and have assigned, which letters are labiall, which dentall, which gutturall. Bacon. Naturall Historie, § 198.

The labials are represented by two curve figures for the lips.-Wilkins. Real Character, pt. iii. c. 14.

P and B are labial: Ph and Bh, or F and V. are labiodental.-Holder. Elements of Speech.

I sente you to repe that whereon ye bestowed no labour
other me laboured, & ye are entred into their labours.
Bible, 1551. John, c. 4.
Dead be thei, that liue not to God, and in the space of
this temporall death laboriously purchase themself eternall
death.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 16.

With wery trauel, and with laborous paines
Alwaies in trouble and in tediousness.

Wyatt. Complaint vpon Loue, &c.

He [Julius Cæsar] lahourously and studiously discussed controversies. Sir T. Elyot. The Governour, b. iii. c. 10.

There is greater store growing in the tops of the mounSee tains then below in the valleis: but it is wonderfull laboursome and also dangerous traueiling vp vnto them and downe againe, by reason of the height and steepenesse of the hilles. Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 824.

But sensibility and intelligence, being by their nature and essence free must be labile, and by their lability may actually lapse, degenerat, and by habit acquire a second nature..

LA/BOUR, v. LA'BOUR, n. LA'BOURER. LABO'RIOUS. LABORIOUSLY. LABO'RIOUSNESS. LABO'RANT. LABORATORY. LA'BOURLESS. LA'BOUROUS. LA'BOUROUSLY.

LA'BOURSOME.

Cheyne. On Regimen, Dis. 5. Fr. Labourer; It. Lavorare; Sp. Laborear; Lat. Laborare; (of uncertain etymology.) Scheidius thinks from Λαβ-ειν, whence ελαBoy, used as the 2d Aor. of λaußav-ew, to take, to seize. Dixerunt (he adds) λaußavew epyov, arripere opus : unde notio operis, s. laboris.

To work hard; to work with difficulty or diligence; to bear up against or support, or sustain with diligence, with difficulty, with pain; to exert, to persist, pursue, or prosecute with care or diligence, pain or difficulty; to do any thing with exertion or effort.

To Frankis & Normanz, for thar grete laboure.

R. Brunne, p. 72.
Cometh now quath Conscience, ge cristyne, and dyneth
That han labered leely. at this Lente tyme.
Piers Plouhman, p. 386.

And right anon he changed his aray,
And clad him as a poure labourer.

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 1411.
My lord is hard to me and dangerous,
And min office is ful laborious.

Id. The Freres Tale, v. 7009.

If thou wilt here Of hem, that whilom vertuous Were, and therto laborious.

Id. Ib

Adam, well may we labour still to dress
This garden, still to tend plant, herb and flower,
Our pleasant task enjoyn'd; but till more hands
Aid us, the work under our labor grows,
Luxurious by restraint.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix.
When down he came like an old o'ergrown oak,
His huge root hewn up by the labourer's stroke.
Drayton. David & Goliah.

Who but felt of late,
When the fierce foe hung on our brok'n rear
Insulting, and pursu'd us through the deep,
With what compulsion and laborious flight
We sank thus low.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ii.

Then we caused the laborant with an iron rod dexterously to stir the kindled part of the nitre.

Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 604. For thankless Greece such hardships have I brav'd, Her wives, her infants, by my labours sav'd; Long, sleepless nights in heavy arms I stood, And sweat laborious days in dust and blood.

Pope. Homer. Iliad, b. ix. Laboriousness shuts the doors and stops all the avenues of the mind, whereby a temptation would enter, and (which is yet more) leaves no void room for it to dwell there, if by any accident it should chance to creep in.-South, vol. vi. Ser.10.

Whence labour or pain is commonly reckoned an ingredient of industry; and laboriousness is a name signifying it. Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 18.