Lead
Pronunciation
- enPR: lĕd, IPA: /lɛd/
- Homophones: led
Origin 1
From Middle English leed, from Old English lēad ("lead"), from Proto-Germanic *laudą ("lead"), from Proto-Indo-European *lAudh- ("lead"). Cognate with Scots leid, lede ("lead"), North Frisian lud, luad ("lead"), West Frisian lead ("lead"), Dutch lood ("lead"), German Lot ("solder, plummet, sounding line"), Swedish lod ("lead"), Icelandic lóð ("a plumb, weight"), Irish luaidhe ("lead"), Lithuanian liudē ("plumb, plummet, plumbline").
Alternative etymology suggests the possibility that Proto-Germanic *laudan may derive from Proto-Celtic *loudhom, from an assumed Proto-Italo-Celtic *ploudhom, from Proto-Indo-European *plou(d)- ("to flow"). If so, then cognate with Latin plumbum ("lead"). More at flow.
Full definition of lead
Noun
lead
(countable and uncountable; plural leads)- (uncountable) A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
- (countable) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.
- A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- (uncountable, typography) Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.
- Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
- (plural leads) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
- I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top. — Francis Bacon
- (countable) A thin cylinder of black lead or plumbago (graphite) used in pencils.
- (slang) Bullets; ammunition.They filled him full of lead.
Derived terms
Terms- black lead, colloquial: graphite or plumbago — so called from its leadlike appearance and streak.
- coasting lead, a sounding lead intermediate in weight between a hand lead and deep-sea lead
- deep-sea lead, the heaviest of sounding leads, used in water exceeding a hundred fathoms in depth. — Hamersley, Naval Encyclopaedia
- hand lead: a small lead use for sounding in shallow water.
- Krems lead, or Kremnitz lead, called from Krems or Kremnitz, in Austria: a pure variety of white lead, formed into tablets, and called also Krems, or Kremnitz, white, and Vienna white.
- lead arming: tallow put in the hollow of a sounding lead. See To arm the lead (below).
- lead colic: See under Colic
- lead colour: a deep bluish gray color, like tarnished lead
- lead glance, (Mineralogy): Same as Galena
- lead line
- (a) (Medicine): A dark line along the gums produced by a deposit of metallic lead, due to lead poisoning.(b) (Nautical): A sounding line
- lead mill: a leaden polishing wheel, used by lapidaries
- lead ocher, (Mineralogy): a massive sulphur-yellow oxide of lead. Same as Massicot
- lead pencil, a pencil of which the marking material is graphite (black lead)
- lead plant, (Botany): a low, leguminous plant, Amorpha canescens, found in the northwestern United States, where its presence is supposed to indicate lead ore. —
- lead tree:
- (a) (Botany): A West Indian name for the tropical leguminous tree, Leucæna glauca; — probably so called from the glaucous color of the foliage.(b) (Chemistry): Lead crystallized in arborescent forms from a solution of some lead salt, as by suspending a strip of zinc in lead acetate
- mock lead: a miner’s term for blende
- red lead: a scarlet, crystalline, granular powder, consisting of minium when pure, but commonly containing several of the oxides of lead. It is used as a paint or cement and also as an ingredient of flint glass
- red lead ore, (Mineralogy): crocoite
- sugar of lead, acetate of lead
- To arm the lead, to fill the hollow in the bottom of a sounding lead with tallow in order to discover the nature of the bottom by the substances adhering. — Hamersley, Naval Encyclopaedia
- To cast, or heave, the lead: to cast the sounding lead for ascertaining the depth of water; or to cast the lead so that as it goes aft by the board the knots in the line can be counted to estimate the vessel's velocity.
- white lead, hydrated carbonate of lead, obtained as a white, amorphous powder, and much used as an ingredient of white paint.
Verb
- (transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.
- (transitive, printing) To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.
Usage notes
Note carefully these two senses are verbs derived from the noun referring to the metallic element, and are unrelated to the heteronym defined below under #Etymology 2.
Origin 2
From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan ("to lead"), from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną ("to cause one to go, lead"), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną ("to go"), from Proto-Indo-European *leit-, *leith- ("to leave, die"). Cognate with West Frisian liede ("to lead"), Dutch leiden ("to lead"), German leiten ("to lead"), Danish lede ("to lead"), Swedish leda ("to lead"). Related to Old English līþan ("to go, travel").
Verb
- (transitive) To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man.
- John Wycliffe on If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch.
- They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill.
- John MiltonIn thy right hand lead with thee / The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
- (transitive) To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of, to lead a pupil; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of.instructions. Hence, figuratively: To direct; to counsel; to instruct; as, to lead a traveler.
- The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way.
- He leadeth me beside the still waters.
- MiltonThis thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask. Content, though blind, had I no better guide.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
- (transitive) To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; as, to lead an army, an exploring party, or a search; to lead a political party; to command, especially a military or business unit.
- Robert SouthChrist took not upon him flesh and blood that he might conquer and rule nations, lead armies, or possess places.
- (transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among; as, the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages.
- Edward Fairfax, translating Tasso's ''Jerusalem Delivered.As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.
- Leigh HuntAnd lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, “Well,†I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.†¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?†¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.
- (transitive) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause.
- Eikon BasilikeHe was driven by the necessities of the times, more than led by his own disposition, to any rigor of actions.
- .Silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts.
- 2013-06-28, Joris Luyendijk, Our banks are out of control, Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic …. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.
- (transitive) To guide or conduct oneself in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).
- That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.
- 1849, Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H, XXXIIINor thou with shadow'd hint confuse
A life that leads melodious days. - 1849-50, Charles Dickens, ''David Copperfield, Chapter 61You remember . . . the life he used to lead his wife and daughter.
- The evidence leads me to believe he is guilty.
- (transitive, cards, dominoes) To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps.He led the ace of spades.
- (intransitive) To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; — used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.
- (intransitive) To be ahead of others, e.g., in a race.
- (intransitive) To have the highest interim score in a game.
- (intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.
- (intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place; as, the path leads to the mill; gambling leads to other vices.
- ca. 1590, Shakespeare, ,The mountain-foot that leads towards Mantua.
- 2013-08-10, Can China clean up fast enough?, All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism. That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. It is therefore dealing with pollution in two ways—suppression and mitigation.
- (intransitive) To lead off or out, to go first; to begin.
- To produce.
- 2013-08-03, Yesterday’s fuel, The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania....It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.
- The shock led to a change in his behaviour.
- (baseball) To step off base and move towards the next base.The batter always leads off base.
- (shooting) To aim in front of a moving target, in order that the shot may hit the target as it passes.
- Misspelling of led
Derived terms
- To lead astray, to guide in a wrong way, or into error; to seduce from truth or rectitude
- To lead captive, to carry or bring into captivity
- To lead the way, to show the way by going in front; to act as guide. — Oliver Goldsmith
Noun
lead
(countable and uncountable; plural leads)- (uncountable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.
- At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, . . . I am sure I did my country important service. — Edmund Burke
- (uncountable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; as, the white horse had the lead; a lead of a boat’s length, or of half a second; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in a game in an incomplete game.
- 2010, December 28, Kevin Darlin, West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn, Blackburn then regained the lead with a simplest of set-piece goals
- (countable) a metallic wire for electrical devices and equipments
- (baseball) When a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrownThe runner took his lead from first.
- (uncountable) (cards and dominoes) The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played; as, your partner has the lead.
- (countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.
- (countable, mining) A lode.
- (nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.
- A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
- In a steam engine, The width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.
- Usage note: When used alone it means outside lead, or lead for the admission of steam. Inside lead refers to the release or exhaust.
- charging lead
- (civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
- (horology) The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet. — Claudias Saunier
- Hypothesis that has not been pursuedThe investigation stalled when all leads turned out to be dead ends.
- Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.
- (marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.Joe is a great addition to our sales team, he has numerous leads in the paper industry.
- Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
- (curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
- (newspapers) A teaser; a lead in; the start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)
- An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
- (engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
- (music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor
Usage notes
Note that these noun (attributive) uses are all derived from the verb, not the chemical element in #Etymology 1.
Derived terms
Terms- lead angle, (Steam Engine): the angle which the crank maker with the line of centers, in approaching it, at the instant when the valve opens to admit steam
- lead screw, (Machines): the main longitudinal screw of a lathe, which gives the feed motion to the carriage.