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To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc. What hour now I think it lacks of twelve. Shak. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii. 28.

Ornamentation by means of lacquer painted or carved, or simply colored, sprinkled with gold or the like; -- said especially of Oriental work of this kind.

That which resembles a ladder in form or use; hence, that by means of which one attains to eminence. Lowliness is young ambition's ladder. Shak. Fish ladder. See under Fish. -- Ladder beetle (Zoöl.), an American leaf beetle (Chrysomela scalaris). The elytra are silvery white, striped and spotted with green; the under…

e Graylag. Lag of the tide, the interval by which the time of high water falls behind the mean time, in the first and third quarters of the moon; -- opposed to priming of the tide, or the acceleration of the time of high water, in the second and fourth quarters; depending on the relative positions of the sun and moon.…

Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth.

To catch or fasten by means of a latch. The door was only latched. Locke.

Slightly withdrawn from view or knowledge; as, a latescent meaning. Sir W. Hamilton.

or so as not to be observed, especially while apparently preserving a grave or serious demeanor toward the person or persons laughed at. -- To laugh out, to laugh in spite of some restraining influence; to laugh aloud. -- To laugh out of the other corner (or side) of the mouth, to weep or cry; to feel regret, vexati…

Superabundant; excessive; as, lavish spirits. Let her have needful, but not lavish, means. Shak.

squares of the times of revolution of two planets are in the ratio of the cubes of their mean distances. -- Law binding, a plain style of leather binding, used for law books; -- called also law calf. -- Law book, a book containing, or treating of, laws. -- Law calf. See Law binding (above). -- Law day. (a) Formerl…

To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man. If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch. Wyclif (Matt. xv. 14.) They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow o…

iency, or productiveness; deficient in quality or contents; slender; scant; barren; bare; mean; -- used literally and figuratively; as, the lean harvest; a lean purse; a lean discourse; lean wages. "No lean wardrobe." Shak. Their lean and fiashy songs. Milton. What the land is, whether it be fat or lean. Num. xiii. 20.…

The act of making light, or causing to ferment, by means of leaven.

A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum. Horse leech, a less powerful European leech (Hæmopis vorax), commonly attacking the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils of animals that drink at pools where it lives.

id; esp., to put in the position or state of a legitimate person before the law, by legal means; as, to legitimate a bastard child. To enact a statute of that which he dares not seem to approve, even to legitimate vice. Milton.

A writing; an inscription. [Obs.] None could expound what this letter meant. Chaucer.

To keep within a channel by means of levees; as, to levee a river. [U. S.]

A measurement of the difference of altitude of two points, by means of a level; as, to take a level.

A prefix from L. laevus, meaning:

ence, befitting a freeman or gentleman; refined; noble; independent; free; not servile or mean; as, a liberal ancestry; a liberal spirit; liberal arts or studies. " Liberal education." Macaulay. " A liberal tongue." Shak.