l

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The 12th letter of the modern English alphabet.
2. n. Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter l.
3. n. The 12th in a series.
4. n. Something shaped like the letter L.
5. abbr. length.
6. abbr. liter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. The twelfth letter and ninth consonant of the English alphabet. It had a similar place in the Latin, Greek, and Phenician alphabets, from which the character has come to us. The scheme of its forms in those alphabets, with the Egyptian characters from which they are perhaps ultimately derived (see A), is as follows:
2. A symbol
3. in chem., for lithium: also Li;
4. in Roman numerals, for 50, and with a line drawn above it (L) for 50,000.
5. An abbreviation.
6. [lowercase] in music, of la (in solmization);
7. of Laiin;
8. in stage-directions, of left;
9. [lowercase] of liber, a book, as a division of a literary work;
10. [lowercase or cap.] of libra, pound sterling, when written after the figures (when before the figures, it has the conventional form £): as, 100l. = £100;
11. [lowercase] in a ship's log-book, of lightning;
12. [lowercase] in references, of line: as, Milton, Lycidas, l. 72;
13. [lowercase] of logarithm;
14. [lowercase] in astronomy, of longitude (l denoting the heliocentric and λ the geocentric longitude);
15. [lowercase] of lege;
16. [cap. or lowercase] in anatomy, of lumbar: used in vertebral formulæ.
17. n. A part of a house or other structure projecting at a right angle from the main body, so as to form with it the figure of the letter L: as, the building has an L of 20 feet.
18. n. A rectangularly bent pipe-connection. Also ell in both senses.
19. n. An abbreviation of the Latin (New Latin) Baccalaureus Litterarum, Bachelor of Letters.
20. n. An abbreviation
21. n. in printing, of lower case (that is, small letters, as opposed to capitals);
22. n. of the Latin loco citato, in the place cited: used to avoid repetition of a citation or reference already given.
23. n. In musical notation, an abbreviation for left hand.
24. An abbreviation of Latin locus sigilli, ‘place of the seal’: usually inserted within brackets in copies of documents to indicate the position of the seal in the originals.
25. A symbol:
26. In chem., l- before certain compounds has reference to their levorotation, as distinguished from dextrorotation (d-) or inaction (i-).
27. In mineralogy, the final letter of the general symbol hkl, given to the face of a crystal in the system of Miller. See symbol, 7.
28. In electricity, the symbol for inductance (which see).
29. In physical, for length: used in formulæ.
30. An abbreviation
31. of Lady;
32. of Lake;
33. of lane;
34. of Latitude;
35. of law;
36. of league or leagues;
37. of leave;
38. in a ship's log-book, of length;
39. of Liberal;
40. of the Latin libra, a pound in weight;
41. of link or links;
42. of liter;
43. of London;
44. of long;
45. of Lord;
46. (aa) of low.
47. n. Used colloquially for el., an abbreviation of elevated, shortened from elevated railway.
48. n. An abbreviation of Literate in Arts.
49. An abbreviation of the Latin Legum Baccalaureus, Bachelor of Laws.
50. n. abbreviation. of Lord Chamberlain;
51. n. An abbreviation of letter of credit.
52. n. An abbreviation
53. n. of Lady-day;
54. n. of Light Dragoons;
55. n. of Low Dutch;
56. n. of the Latin litera dominicalis, dominical letter;
57. n. same as
58. n. An abbreviation of Life Guards;
59. n. of Low German (often Low German).
60. n. An abbreviation of Light Infantry;
61. n. of Licentiate of Instruction;
62. n. of Long Island.
63. n. An abbreviation of limiting limen.
64. n. An abbreviation of Licentiate in Medicine;
65. n. of Licentiate in Midwifery;
66. n. of long meter.
67. n. An abbreviation of low-pressure.
68. n. An abbreviation of Lloyd's Pegister. See Lloyd's and free-board.
69. n. An abbreviation of Linnean Society;
70. n. of left side.
71. n. An abbreviation of lira Turca, the Turkish pound;
72. n. of long ton.
73. n. An abbreviation of Liberal Union;
74. n. of Liberal-Unionist.

Wiktionary

1. n. The twelfth letter of the English alphabet, called el and written in the Latin script.
2. n. The ordinal number twelfth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called el and written in the Latin script.
3. abbr. Latin Language
4. abbr. Lira.
5. abbr. Low Pressure Front
6. abbr. Left.
7. abbr. Lobby.
8. abbr. Liber.
9. n. The twelfth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
10. n. alveolar lateral approximant.
11. n. litre or liter
12. n. The Roman numeral representing 50.
13. n. length (arclength is often denoted with a cursive l)

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. L is the twelfth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. It is usually called a semivowel or liquid. Its form and value are from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of Greek letter being from the Phœnician, and the ultimate origin prob. Egyptian. Etymologically, it is most closely related to r and u; as in pilgrim, peregrine, couch (fr. collocare), aubura (fr. LL. alburnus).
2. n. As a numeral, L stands for fifty in the English, as in the Latin language.
3. n. An extension at right angles to the length of a main building, giving to the ground plan a form resembling the letter L; sometimes less properly applied to a narrower, or lower, extension in the direction of the length of the main building; a wing.
4. n. (Mech.) A short right-angled pipe fitting, used in connecting two pipes at right angles.
5. adj. Having the general shape of the (capital) letter L.
6. adj. Elevated; -- a symbol for el. as an abbreviation of elevated in elevated road or railroad.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the 12th letter of the Roman alphabet
2. n. a cgs unit of illumination equal to the brightness of a perfectly diffusing surface that emits or reflects one lumen per square centimeter
3. adj. being ten more than forty
4. n. a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
5. n. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five