lead

lead

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of lead in English

English Online Dictionary. What means lead‎? What does lead mean?

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”), 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

  • enPR: lĕd, IPA(key): /lɛd/
  • Rhymes: -ɛd
  • Homophone: led

Noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

  2. (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
  3. (countable, nautical) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.
  4. A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
  5. (uncountable, typography) Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.
  6. Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
  7. (countable) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
  8. (countable) A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils.
    Synonym: pencil lead
  9. (slang) bullets; ammunition.
  10. (medicine, in the plural) X-ray protective clothing lined with lead.
Derived terms


Translations

Verb

lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle leaded)

  2. (transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead.
  3. (transitive, printing, historical) To place leads between the lines of.
Translations

See also

Further reading

  • David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Lead”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
  • “lead”, in Mindat.org‎[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.
  • 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”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

Alternative forms

  • lede, leed (both obsolete)

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lēd, IPA(key): /liːd/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /lid/
  • Rhymes: -iːd
  • Homophones: leed, lede, lied (“song”)

Verb

lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle led)

  2. (heading, transitive) To guide or conduct.
    1. To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.
    2. 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.
    3. (figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct
    4. To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit.
    5. 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).
  3. (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.
  4. (heading) To begin, to be ahead.
    1. (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.
    2. (intransitive) To proceed in front of others; to go first.
    3. (intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.
    4. (heading, sports)
      1. (transitive, card games, dominoes) To begin a game, round, or trick, with
      2. (intransitive) To be ahead of others, e.g., in a race.
      3. (intransitive) To have the highest interim score in a game.
      4. (baseball) To step off base and move towards the next base.
      5. (shooting) To aim in front of a moving target, in order that the shot may hit the target as it passes.
      6. (transitive, climbing) Lead climb.
  5. (transitive) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure
  6. (intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place.
  7. To produce. [with to]
  8. Misspelling of led.
  9. (transitive) To live or experience (a particular way of life).
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

  1. (countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course
  2. (countable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in an incomplete game.
  3. (UK, countable) An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.
  4. (baseball) The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.
  5. (uncountable, card games, dominoes) The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played
  7. (acting, theater) The main role in a play or film; the lead role.
  8. (acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.
  9. (business) The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.
  10. (countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.
  11. (countable, mining) A lode.
  12. (nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.
  14. A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
  15. 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.
  16. (civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
  17. (horology) The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.
  18. Hypothesis that has not been pursued
  19. Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.
  20. (marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.
  21. Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
  22. (curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
  24. (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.)
  25. An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
  26. (engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
  27. (music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor
  28. (music) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.
  29. (music) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.
  30. (engineering) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.
  31. (electrical) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.
  32. (electrical) 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)

  1. (not comparable) Foremost.
    Synonyms: first, front, head, leader, leading
  2. 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

Etymology 3

Verb

lead

  1. Misspelling of led.

References

  • “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

  1. (transitive) to pass down, hand down, turn in, drop off
  2. (transitive) to lose weight, usually as a result of some kind of training or exercise

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

  • lead in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Middle English

Noun

lead

  1. Alternative form of led (“lead”)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *laud.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /læ͜ɑːd/

Noun

lēad n

  1. lead

Declension

Strong a-stem:

Derived terms

  • līeden

Descendants

  • Middle English: led, lead, lede, leed, leod, leyd, leyt, læd (Early Middle English)
    • English: lead
    • Scots: leid, lede
    • Yola: leed

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English lead.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlit/
  • Rhymes: -it
  • Syllabification: lead
  • Homophones: lit, -lit

Noun

lead m inan

  1. (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

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Related Words

leads

leading

leadership

leaders

leader

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.