lead

== English == === Etymology 1 === From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow. (graphite in a pencil): Graphite was once believed to be a form of lead; see black lead and plumbago. ==== Alternative forms ==== ♄ (alchemy) ==== Pronunciation ==== IPA(key): /ˈlɛd/, [ˈlɛd] Rhymes: -ɛd Homophone: led ==== 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). Synonym: plumbum (countable, nautical) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or 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. Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs. (countable) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates. (countable) A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils. Synonym: pencil lead (slang) Bullets; ammunition. (medicine, in the plural) X-ray protective clothing lined with lead. ===== Synonyms ===== (metal (attributive)): leaden, plumbic, plumbous; leaded; leady (uncommon); saturnine (archaic) ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle leaded) (transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead. (transitive, printing, historical) To place leads between the lines of. ===== Translations ===== ==== See also ==== ==== Further reading ==== David Barthelmy (1997–2026), “Lead”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database. “lead”, in Mindat.org, Keswick, Va.: Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2026. lead on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Etymology 2 === From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”). Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”), Faroese and Icelandic leiða (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”). ==== Alternative forms ==== lede, leed (both obsolete) ==== Pronunciation ==== IPA(key): /ˈliːd/, [ˈlɪi̯d] Rhymes: -iːd Hyphenation: lead Homophones: leed, lede, lied (“song”) ==== Verb ==== lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle led) (heading, transitive) To guide or conduct. To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection. 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 guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions. (figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct. To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit. To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure. To influence towards a belief, a conclusion, etc. (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. (heading) To begin, to be ahead. (transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among. 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way. (intransitive) To proceed in front of others; to go first. (intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others. (heading, sports) (transitive, card games, dominoes) To begin a game, round, or trick, with (intransitive) To be ahead of others, e.g., in a race. (intransitive) To have the highest interim score in a game. (baseball) To step off base and move towards the next base. (shooting) To aim in front of a moving target, in order that the shot may hit the target as it passes. (transitive, climbing) To lead climb. (clarification of this definition is needed ("to lead climb" is intransitive(?))) (intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain spatial direction, or to a certain place. (intransitive) To be a cause of. [with to] Synonym: lead to (transitive, usually with "life") To live or experience (a particular way of life). Used in phrasal verbs: lead off, lead on, lead out, lead to (“be the cause of, bring about”), lead up, lead up to. Misspelling of led. ===== Conjugation ===== ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads) (countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course (countable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in an incomplete game. (UK, countable) An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment. (baseball) The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown. (uncountable, card games, dominoes) The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played (acting, theater) The main role in a play or film; the lead role. (acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor. (business) The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc. (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. (civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment. (horology) The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet. Hypothesis that has not been pursued 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. 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. (US, journalism) The introductory paragraph or paragraphs of a newspaper, or a news or other type of article. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.) Synonym: lead paragraph 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. (music) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts. (music) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others. (music) A primary synth, often composed of square, sawtooth, triangle or sine waveforms. (engineering) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft. (electricity) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles. (electricity) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Adjective ==== lead (not comparable) (not comparable) Foremost. Synonyms: first, front, head, leader, leading Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost. 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera: Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's ex-prime minister, has missed a verdict in a negligence trial that could have seen her jailed, prompting the Supreme Court to say it will issue an arrest warrant fearing she is a flight risk, according to the lead judge in the case. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === Perhaps from a confusion or conflation with read, which has a single spelling for both past and present tenses, but has differing pronunciations in the same way as lead, i.e. the present's vowel is /i/, and the past's is /ɛ/. See also red and redd, the obsolete spellings of read. ==== Verb ==== lead Misspelling of led. ==== References ==== “lead”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. “lead”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === ALDE, Adel, Dale, Deal, Dela, E.D. La., Lade, Leda, adle, dale, deal, lade == Hungarian == === Etymology === le- +‎ ad === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [ˈlɛɒd] Hyphenation: le‧ad Rhymes: -ɒd === Verb === lead (transitive) to pass down, hand down, turn in, drop off (transitive) to lose weight, usually as a result of some kind of training or exercise ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== === Further reading === lead in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN. == Middle English == === Noun === lead (Kent or Late Middle English) alternative form of led (“lead”) == Old English == === Etymology === Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laud, possibly borrowed from Gaulish *loudon, from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom (“lead”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /læ͜ɑːd/ Rhymes: -æ͜ɑːd === Noun === lēad n lead Exeter Book, riddle 40 ==== Declension ==== Strong a-stem: ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== Middle English: led, lede, leed, leod, leyd, leyt, læd (Early Middle English), lead (Kentish or Late Middle English)English: leadScots: leid, ledeYola: leed == Polish == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English lead. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈlit/ Rhymes: -it Syllabification: lead Homophones: lit, -lit === Noun === lead m inan (newspapers, journalism) lead paragraph, teaser, lead-in (start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how) ==== Declension ==== === Further reading === “lead”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[2] (in Polish)