lead
pronunciation
How to pronounce lead in British English:
UK [liːd , led]
How to pronounce lead in American English:
US [liːd , led]
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- Noun:
- a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull gray
- an advantage held by a competitor in a race
- evidence pointing to a possible solution
- a position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead')
- the angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile)
- the introductory section of a story
- an actor who plays a principal role
- (baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base
- an indication of potential opportunity
- a news story of major importance
- the timing of ignition relative to the position of the piston in an internal-combustion engine
- restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal
- thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing
- mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil
- a jumper that consists of a short piece of wire
- the playing of a card to start a trick in bridge
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- Verb:
- take somebody somewhere
- result in
- tend to or result in
- travel in front of; go in advance of others
- cause to undertake a certain action
- stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point
- be in charge of
- be ahead of others; be the first
- be conducive to
- lead, as in the performance of a composition
- pass or spend
- lead, extend, or afford access
- move ahead (of others) in time or space
- cause something to pass or lead somewhere
- preside over
Word Origin
- lead
- lead: [OE] English has two words lead, spelled the same but of course pronounced differently and with a very different history. The verb goes back to a prehistoric West and North Germanic *laithjan. This was derived from *laithō ‘way, journey’ (from which English gets load); so etymologically lead means ‘cause to go along one’s way’. Its Germanic relatives include German leiten, Dutch leiden, Swedish leda, and Danish lede. Lead the metal is probably of Celtic origin.The prehistoric Celtic word for ‘lead’ was *loudiā, which may have come ultimately from an Indo-European source meaning ‘flow’ (a reference to the metal’s low melting point). Its modern descendants include Irish luaidhe and Gaelic luaidh. It could well have been borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic as *lauda, which would have produced modern German lot ‘solder’, Dutch lood ‘lead’, and English lead.=> load
- lead (v.1)
- "to guide," Old English lædan "cause to go with one, lead, guide, conduct, carry; sprout forth; bring forth, pass (one's life)," causative of liðan "to travel," from Proto-Germanic *laidjan (cognates: Old Saxon lithan, Old Norse liða "to go," Old High German ga-lidan "to travel," Gothic ga-leiþan "to go"), from PIE *leit- "to go forth." Meaning "to be in first place" is from late 14c. Sense in card playing is from 1670s. Related: Led; leading. Lead-off "commencement, beginning" attested from 1879; lead-in "introduction, opening" is from 1928.
- lead (n.1)
- heavy metal, Old English lead, from West Germanic *loudhom (cognates: Old Frisian lad, Middle Dutch loot, Dutch lood "lead," German Lot "weight, plummet"). The name and the skill in using the metal seem to have been borrowed from the Celts (compare Old Irish luaide), probably from PIE root *plou(d)- "to flow." Figurative of heaviness since at least early 14c. Black lead was an old name for "graphite," hence lead pencil (1680s) and the colloquial figurative phrase to have lead in one's pencil "be possessed of (especially male sexual) vigor," attested by 1902. Lead balloon "a failure," American English slang, attested by 1957 (as a type of something heavy that can be kept up only with effort, from 1904). Lead-footed "slow" is from 1896; opposite sense of "fast" emerged 1940s in trucker's jargon, from notion of a foot heavy on the gas pedal.
- lead (n.2)
- c. 1300, "action of leading," from lead (v.1). Meaning "the front or leading place" is from 1560s. Johnson stigmatized it as "a low, despicable word." Sense in card-playing is from 1742; in theater, from 1831; in journalism, from 1912; in jazz bands, from 1934.
- lead (v.2)
- early 15c., "to make of lead," from lead (n.1). Meaning "to cover with lead" is from mid-15c. Related: Leaded (early 13c.); leading.
Example
- 1. It is time for america to lead again .
- 2. Lead can damage the developing brain of young children .
- 3. Maybe feminism does lead women to reject traditional religion .
- 4. Mr obama enjoys a slight but consistent lead .
- 5. I urged the germans to lead europe toward greater unity .