lead

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Definitions (236)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (74)

  1. transitive verb To show the way to by going in advance.
  2. transitive verb To guide or direct in a course: lead a horse by the halter. See Synonyms at guide.
  3. transitive verb To serve as a route for; take: The path led them to a cemetery.
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Examples

  • None knew of his proficiency as a politician or as a popular political orator, and, long accustomed to the eloquence and the debating abilities of Bingaman, the lead was accorded to him as usual. —  The Memories of Fifty Years
  • In the lead was a great stallion whose tone was that of a fine accordion; on the flanks were lesser males whose horns were muted or silent. —  Split Infinity
  • After the sobbing, the noise of boots on stone, came shouted orders, and the Company marched out with fixed bayonets on shouldered guns, and in the lead was the Captain holding a rifle sling looped round the neck of Teresa Moreno. —  Sharpe's Gold
  • He lay on the same table; it had been wheeled into the recovery room (actually a passenger's cabin four decks below the New Amsterdam's waterline, a few yards down the passageway from the movie theater that the plastic surgeons had been using for their operations). —  Cyberbooks
  • I dealt with the offender, made certain it had been a solitary explorer, and then remarked, "Your notion of a lead was a good idea, Ramses, but this dirty rag will not do. —  The Mummy Case
 

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Words tagged lead

pipe

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Lead has been looked up 527 times, favorited 0 times, listed 19 times, and commented on 4 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

metal ·  single ·  material ·  plastic ·  wire ·  shoot ·  support ·  dozen ·  gas ·  train ·  glass ·  chief
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (7)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan; see leit- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English led, from Old English lēad, probably of Celtic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. from Middle English leden (preterit ledde, ladde), from Anglo-Saxon lǣdan (preterit lǣdde, past participle lǣded, lǣd) (= Old Saxon lēdjan = OFries. leda = Dutch leiden = Middle Low German leiden, lēden = Old High German leitan, Middle High German G. leiten = Icelandic leidha = Swedish leda = Danish lede), lead; a factitive verb, connected with lād (= Icelandic leidh, etc.), a way, course, journey (see lode), from līdhan = Old High German līdan = Icelandic līdha, go, = Danish lide = Swedish lida, glide on, wear on: see lithe.
  2. = OFries. lede, lade = Middle Dutch leyde = Middle Low German leide, lēde = Old High German leita, leitī, Middle High German leite, German leite, lead; from the verb.
  3. from Middle English leed, from Anglo-Saxon leád, lead, = OFries. lad = Dutch lood, lead, = Middle Low German lōt. lead, a weight, lode, a plummet, = Middle High German lōt, German loth = Swedish Danish lod, a plummet, a lead, ball, bullet, a weight. The word occurs disguised in pilot, q. v. Another Teutonic word for ‘lead,’ the metal, is Old High German blīo, Middle High German blī, German blei, Middle Low German bli, blig = Icelandic bly¯ = Swedish Danish bly; the L. is plumbum (see plumb).
  4. from Middle English leden, leeden (= Dutch looden = Middle Low German loden = German lothen = Danish lodde = Swedish loda, sound with the lead; from the noun.
  5. Also leed; from Middle English leede; perhaps from Gael, luchd, a pot, kettle.
 

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/lɛd/
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