n. [ OE. ley, lay, As. leáh, leá; akin to Prov. G. lon bog, morass, grove, and perh. to L. lucus grove, E. light, n. ] A meadow or sward land; a grassy field. “Plow-torn leas.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Lay, n. (that which is laid), 4. ] (Textile Manuf.) (a) A measure of yarn; for linen, 300 yards; for cotton, 120 yards; a lay. (b) A set of warp threads carried by a loop of the heddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To part with soluble constituents by percolation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Leech, a physician. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) See 3d Leech. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Leached p. pr. & vb. n. Leaching. ] [ Written also leech and letch. ] 1. To remove the soluble constituents from by subjecting to the action of percolating water or other liquid; as, to leach ashes or coffee. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To dissolve out; -- often used with out; as, to leach out alkali from ashes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also letch. ] [ Cf. As. leáh lye, G. lauge. See Lye. ] 1. A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Leach tub, a wooden tub in which ashes are leached. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Permitting liquids to pass by percolation; not capable of retaining water; porous; pervious; -- said of gravelly or sandy soils, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. led, leed, lead, AS. leád; akin to D. lood, MHG. lōt, G. loth plummet, sounding lead, small weight, Sw. & Dan. lod. √123. ] 1. (Chem.) One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible (melting point 327.5° C), forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82. Atomic weight, 207.2. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An article made of lead or an alloy of lead; as: (a) A plummet or mass of lead, used in sounding at sea. (b) (Print.) A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing. (c) Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs; hence, pl., a roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top. Bacon [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A small cylinder of black lead or graphite, used in pencils. [ 1913 Webster ]

Black lead, graphite or plumbago; -- so called from its leadlike appearance and streak. [ Colloq. ] --
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. Ham. Nav. Encyc. --
Hand lead, a small lead use for sounding in shallow water. --
Krems lead,
Kremnitz lead [ so called from Krems or Kremnitz, in Austria ], a pure variety of white lead, formed into tablets, and called also Krems white, 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 color, a deep bluish gray color, like tarnished lead. --
Lead glance. (Min.) Same as Galena. --
Lead line (a) (Med.) A dark line along the gums produced by a deposit of metallic lead, due to lead poisoning. (b) (Naut.) A sounding line. --
Lead mill, a leaden polishing wheel, used by lapidaries. --
Lead ocher (Min.), 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 (Bot.), a low leguminous plant, genus Amorpha (Amorpha canescens), found in the Northwestern United States, where its presence is supposed to indicate lead ore. Gray. --
Lead tree. (a) (Bot.) A West Indian name for the tropical, leguminous tree, Leucæna glauca; -- probably so called from the glaucous color of the foliage. (b) (Chem.) 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 (Min.), 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. Ham. Nav. Encyc. --
To cast the lead, or
To heave the lead, to cast the sounding lead for ascertaining the depth of water. --
White lead, hydrated carbonate of lead, obtained as a white, amorphous powder, and much used as an ingredient of white paint. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another. [ 1913 Webster ]

At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, . . . I am sure I did my country important service. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Cards & 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An open way in an ice field. Kane. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mining) A lode. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Naut.) The course of a rope from end to end. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When used alone it means outside lead, or lead for the admission of steam. Inside lead refers to the release or exhaust. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Civil Engineering) the distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Horology) The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet. Saunier. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Music.) (a) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts. (b) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

11. In an internal-combustion engine, the distance, measured in actual length of piston stroke or the corresponding angular displacement of the crank, of the piston from the end of the compression stroke when ignition takes place; -- called in full
lead of the ignition. When ignition takes place during the working stroke the corresponding distance from the commencement of the stroke is called
negative lead. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

12. (Mach.) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

13. (Mach.) In spiral screw threads, worm wheels, or the like, the amount of advance of any point in the spiral for a complete turn. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

14. (Elec.) (a) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles. (b) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

15. (Theat.) A role for a leading man or leading woman; also, one who plays such a role. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

16. The first story in a newspaper or broadcast news program. [ PJC ]

17. an electrical conductor, typically as an insulated wire or cable, connecting an electrical device to another device or to a power source, such as a conductor conveying electricity from a dynamo. [ PJC ]

18. (Baseball) the distance a runner on base advances from one base toward the next before the pitch; as, the long lead he usually takes tends to distract the pitchers. [ PJC ]

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 (Mach.), the main longitudinal screw of a lathe, which gives the feed motion to the carriage. [ 1913 Webster ]