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To lay a wager; to bet. To lay about, or To lay about one, to strike vigorously in all directions. J. H. Newman. -- To lay at, to strike or strike at. Spenser. -- To lay for, to prepare to capture or assault; to lay wait for. [Colloq.] Bp Hall. -- To lay in for, to make overtures for; to engage or secure the possess…

A measure of length or distance, varying in different countries from about 2.4 to 4.6 English statute miles of 5.280 feet each, and used (as a land measure) chiefly on the continent of Europe, and in the Spanish parts of America. The marine league of England and the United States is equal to three marine, or geographic…

n a lesson; to learn dancing; to learn to skate; to learn the violin; to learn the truth about something. "Learn to do well." Is. i. 17. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. Matt. xxiv. 32.

Made of leather; consisting of. leather; as, a leathern purse. "A leathern girdle about his loins." Matt. iii. 4.

A heavy weapon of the Australian aborigines with a sharp- pointed end, about nine inches in length, projecting at right angles from the main part.

foot soldiers and cavalry consisting of different numbers at different periods, -- from about four thousand to about six thousand men, -- the cavalry being about one tenth.

genus of Australian gallinaceous birds including but a single species (Leipoa ocellata), about the size of a turkey. Its color is variegated, drown, black, white, and gray. Called also native pheasant.

h constitute the star shower that recurs near the fourteenth of November at intervals of about thirty- three years; so called because shooting stars appear on the heavens to move in lines directed from the constellation Leo.

A rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (the fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied; -- used for transmitting and modifying force and motion. Specif., a bar of metal, wood, or other rigid substance, used to exert a pressure, or sustain a weight, at one po…

e, the perpendicular distance from the line in which a force acts upon a body to a point about which the body may be supposed to turn.

ility; probable; likely. [Likely is more used now.] Shak. But it is like the jolly world about us will scoff at the paradox of these practices. South. Many were not easy to be governed, nor like to conform themselves to strict rules. Clarendon.

A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune. The housewife went about her work, or spun at her wheel, with a lilt upon her lips. J. C. Shairp.

point. Faraday. -- Line of life (Palmistry), a line on the inside of the hand, curving about the base of the thumb, supposed to indicate, by its form or position, the length of a person's life. -- Line of lines. See Gunter's line. -- Line of march. (Mil.) (a) Arrangement of troops for marching. (b) Course or direct…

To show the lions or objects of interest to; to conduct about among objects of interest. Macaulay.

Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. Swift.

and smallest finger of the hand. -- Little go (Eng. Universities), a public examination about the middle of the course, which as less strict and important than the final one; -- called also smalls. Cf. Great go, under Great. Thackeray. -- Little hours (R. C. Ch.), the offices of prime, tierce, sext, and nones. Vesper…

To spend time in idleness; to lounge or loiter about. " Loafing vagabonds." W. Black.

Amount of elevation and descent made by the locks of a canal. The entire lock will be about fifty feet. De Witt Clinton.

of expression. " Stumbling locutions." G. Eliot. I hate these figures in locution, These about phrases forced by ceremony. Marston.

- as a unit of enumeration, reckoned from four to six persons; as, the tribe consists of about two hundred lodges, that is, of about a thousand individuals. Lodge gate, a park gate, or entrance gate, near the lodge. See Lodge, n., 1 (b).