Chapter 28

Ky"ack (?), n. A pack sack to be swung on either side of a packsaddle. [Western U. S.]

L.

L, a. 1. Having the general shape of the (capital) letter L; as, an L beam, or L-beam.

2. Elevated; -- a symbol for el. as an abbreviation of elevated in elevated road or railroad. -- n. An elevated road; as, to ride on the L. [Colloq., U. S.]

Laa"ger (l"gr or lä"gr), n. [D., also leger. Cf. 2d Leaguer, Lair.] A camp, esp. one with an inclosure of travelers' wagons for temporary defense. [South Africa]

Wagons . . . can be readily formed into a laager, a camp, by being drawn into a circle, with the oxen placed inside and so kept safe from the attacks of wild beasts.

James Bryce.

Laa"ger, v. t. & i. [From Laager, n.] To form into, or camp in, a laager, or protected camp.

La"bi*o*plas`ty (l"b**pls`t), n. [Labium + -plasty.] (Surg.) A plastic operation for making a new lip, or for replacing a lost tissue of a lip.

La"bi*palp (?), n. (Zoöl.) A labial palp.

La"bor, n. (Mining.) A stope or set of stopes. [Sp. Amer.]

Labor Day. In most of the States and Territories of the United States, a day, usually the first Monday of September, set aside as a legal holiday, in honor of, or in the interest of, workingmen as a class. Also, a similar holiday in Canada, Australia, etc.

La"bret (?), n. [L. labrum lip.] (Anthropology) A piece of wood, shell, stone, or other substance, worn in a perforation of the lip or cheek by many savages.

Lace, v. t. To twine or draw as a lace; to interlace; to intertwine.

The Gond . . . picked up a trail of the Karela, the vine that bears the bitter wild gourd, and laced it to and fro across the temble door.

Kipling.

Lach"ry*mals (?), n. pl. [See Lachrymal.] Tears; also, lachrymal feelings or organs. [Colloq.]

People go to the theaters to have . . . their risibles and lachrymals set agoing.

The Lutheran.

La*din" (?), n. A person speaking Ladin as a mother tongue.

La*di"no (?), n.; pl. - nos (&?;) 1. The mixed Spanish and Hebrew language spoken by Sephardim.

2. A cunningly vicious horse. [Southeastern U. S.]

3. A ladin.

La"dy's cloth` (?) A kind of broadcloth of light weight, used for women's dresses, cloaks, etc.

Lag, n. The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

{ La*gniappe (?), La*gnappe" (?) }, n. [Etym. uncertain.] In Louisiana, a trifling present given to customers by tradesmen; a gratuity.

Lagniappe . . .is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure.

Mark Twain.

||Lag"thing (?), n. [Norw. lagting, lagthing; lag company, society (akin to E. law, lay) + ting, thing, parliament. See Thing.] See Legislatature, below.

Lak"er (?), n. One that is connected with a lake or lakes, as in habitation, toil, etc.: (a) One of the poets of the Lake school. See Lake poets, under Lake, n. (b) (Zoöl.) A fish living in, or taken from, a lake, esp. the namaycush. (c) A lake steamer or canal boat.

The bridge tender . . . thought the Cowies "a little mite" longer than that laker.

The Century.

Lamb"kill` (?), n. (Bot.) A small American ericaceous shrub (Kalmia angustifolia); -- called also calfkill, sheepkill, sheep laurel, etc. It is supposed to poison sheep and other animals that eat it at times when the snow is deep and they cannot find other food.

||Land"drost` (?), n.; pl. - drosten (#). Sometimes incorrectly Landtrost. [D., fr. land land + drost a kind of official; akin to G. truchsess.] In Cape Colony: (a) A chief magistrate in rural districts. He was replaced in 1827 by "resident magistrates." (b) The president of the Heemraad.

Land League. In Ireland, a combination of tenant farmers and other, organized, with Charles Stewart Parnell as president, in 1879 with a view to the reduction of farm rents and a reconstruction of the land laws. -- Land"*lea`guer (#), n. -- Land"*lea`guism (#), n.

The Land League, of which Machael Davitt was the founder, originated in Mayo in August, and at a Dublin in October the organization was extended to all Ireland, with Parnell as president.

Encyc. Brit.

Land of Steady Habits. Connecticut; -- a nickname alluding to the moral character of its inhabitants, implied by the rigid laws (see Blue laws) of the early period.

||Lands"thing` (?), n. [Dan. landsthing, landsting, fr. land land + thing, ting, parliament. See Land; Thing.] (Denmark.) See Legislature, below.

||Land"storm` (?), n. [Sw.] See Varnpligtige.

||Land"sturm` (?), n. [G. See Land; Storm.] In Germany and other European nations, and Japan: (a) A general levy in time of war. (b) The forces called out on such levy, composed of all men liable to service who are not in the army, navy, or Landwehr; the last line of defense, supposed to be called out only in case of invasion or other grave emergency. See Army organization, above.

||Land"tag` (?), n. [G. See Land; Day.] (Prussia.) See Legislasture, below.

Lar"ri*kin (?), n. [Cf. E. dial. larrikin a mischievous or frolicsome youth, larrick lively, careless, larack to trolic, to romp.] A rowdy street loafer; a rowdyish or noisy ill-bred fellow; -- variously applied, as to a street blackguard, a street Arab, a youth given to horse-play, etc. [Australia & Eng.] -- a. Rowdy; rough; disorderly. [Australia & Eng.]

Mobs of unruly larrikins.

Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Larrikin is often popularly explained by the following anecdote (which is without foundation): An Irish policeman at Melbourne, on bringing a notorious rough into court, was asked by the magistrate what the prisoner had been doing, and replied, "He was a-larrikin' [i. e., a-larking] about the streets."

Lar"vate (?), a. [L. larva mask.] Masked; hence, concealed; obscure; -- applied in medicine to doubtful cases of some diseases; as, larvate pneumonis; larvate epilepsy.

Lar`yn*gec"to*my (?), n. [Larynx + Gr. &?; to cut out.] (Surg.) Excision of the larynx.

La*ryn"go*graph (?), n. [larynx + -graph.] An instrument for recording the larynx movements in speech.

{ La"ta, La"tah } (?), n. [Malay.] A convulsive tic or hysteric neurosis prevalent among Malays, similar to or identical with miryachit and jumping disease, the person affected performing various involuntary actions and making rapid inarticulate ejaculations in imitation of the actions and words of another person.

||La"ti*go (?), n. [Sp. látigo.] A strap for tightening a saddle girth. [Western U. S. & Sp. Amer.]

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La"ti*go hal"ter (?). A kind of halter usually made of raw hide.

Lat"ter*day`, a. Belonging to present times or those recent by comparison.

||Laut"ver*schie`bung (?), n.; pl. -schiebungen (&?;). [G.; laut sound + verschiebung shifting.] (Philol.) (a) The regular changes which the primitive Indo-European stops, or mute consonants, underwent in the Teutonic languages, probably as early as the 3d century b. c. , often called the first Lautverschiebung, sound shifting, or consonant shifting. (b) A somewhat similar set of changes taking place in the High German dialects (less fully in modern literary German) from the 6th to the 8th century, known as the second Lautverschiebung, the result of which form the striking differences between High German and The Low German Languages. The statement of these changes is commonly regarded as forming part of Grimm's law, because included in it as originally framed.

{ La val`liere", or La`val`liere" } (?), n. A neck ornament consisting of a chain and single pendant, or drop.

Lay*ette" (?), n. [F.] (Med.) The outfit of clothing, blankets, etc., prepared for a newborn infant, and placed ready for used.

Lay" read"er. (Eccl.) A layman authorized to read parts of the public service of the church.

{ Lay shaft, or Lay"shaft` } (?), n. (Mach.) A secondary shaft, as in a sliding change gear for an automobile; a cam shaft operated by a two- to-one gear in an internal-combustion engine. It is generally a shaft moving more or less independently of the other parts of a machine, as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of the main engine to insure uniform motion.

{ ||Laz`a*ret" (?), Laz`a*ret"to (?) } n. (Naut.) (Pronounced by seamen &?;) A low space under the after part of the main deck, used as a storeroom.

Lazaret fever. (Med.) Typhus fever.

Lead (?), n. 1. (Music.) (a) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts. (b) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.

2. In an internal-combustion engine, the distance, measured in actual length of piston stroke or the corresponding angular displacement of the crank, of the piston from the end of the compression stroke when ignition takes place; -- called in full lead of the ignition. When ignition takes place during the working stroke the corresponding distance from the commencement of the stroke is called negative lead.

3. (Mach.) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.

4. (Mach.) In spiral screw threads, worm wheels, or the like, the amount of advance of any point in the spiral for a complete turn.

5. (Elec.) (a) A conductor conveying electricity, as from a dynamo. (b) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles. (c) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

6. (Theat.) A rôle for a leading man or leading woman; also, one who plays such a rôle.

Lead"ing edge (?). (Aëronautics) same as Advancing edge, above.

Leak (?), n. (Elec.) A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation; also, the point at which such loss occurs.

Leak"age (?), n. (Elec.) A leak; also; the quantity of electricity thus wasted.

{ Lee"an`gle, Li"an`gle } (?), n. [From native name.] 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.

Left, a. Situated so that the left side of the body is toward it; as, the left side of a deliberative meeting is that to the left of the presiding officer; the left wing of an army is that to the left of the center to one facing an enemy.

Leg, n. 1. (Math.) Either side of a triangle of a triangle as distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola.

2. (Telephony) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

3. (Elec.) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

Leg bridge. A type of bridge for small spans in which the floor girders are rigidly secured at their extremities to supporting steel legs, driven into the round as piling, or resting on mudsills.

Legislature, n. -- The legislatures of some of the more important states having constitutional government are as follows, the general name (or a translation of it) of the legislative body collectively being given under the heading legislature, or parliament:

*In the self-governing colonies of Great Britain the legislative body usually consists of two chambers, the names of the legislature and the chambers varying. Thus in Australia the Federal Parliament is composed of the Senate and the House of Commons, in New Zealand the General Assembly is composed of the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives, etc.

#Members of the Storthing are chosen for three years by direct election by manhood suffrage, forty-one being elected from the towns and eighty-two from the rural districts. The Storthing on assembling divides into the Lagthing including one fourth and the Odelsthing including three fourths of the total membership of the Storthing. All new laws are laid first before the Odelsthing. If the two houses do not agree they vote in joint session, a majority of two thirds of those voting being necessary to a decision.

§ While theoretically general, the suffrage is so classified as often practically to disfranchise those who are not property holders.

Leg"-of-mut"ton (?), a. Having the general shape or outline of a leg of mutton; as, a leg-of- mutton, or shoulder-of-mutton, sail.

Le*nard" rays (?). (Physics.) Rays emanating from the outer surface of a plate composed of any material permeable by cathode rays, as aluminium, which forms a portion of a wall of a vacuum tube, or which is mounted within the tube and exposed to radiation from the cathode. Lenard rays are similar in all their known properties to cathode rays. So called from the German physicist Philipp Lenard (b. 1862), who first described them.

Lenard tube. (Elec.) A tube for producing Lenard rays.

Les"bi*an, a. Amatory; erotic; -- in allusion to the reputed sensuality of the Lesbian people and literature; as, Lesbian novels.

Les"bi*an*ism (?), n. (Med.) Unnatural sexual relations between women.

Lesbian love. See Lesbianism.

||Les"ter (?), n. [Pg., prob. fr. Fr. l'est the east.] (Meteor.) A dry sirocco in the Madeira Islands.

Let"ter, n. (Teleg.) A telegram longer than an ordinary message sent at rates lower than the standard message rate in consideration of its being sent and delivered subject to priority in service of regular messages. Such telegrams are called by the Western Union Company day, or night, letters according to the time of sending, and by The Postal Telegraph Company day, or night, lettergrams.

Let"ter*gram (?), n. See Letter, above.

||Le*ve"che (?), n. [Sp. Cf. Lebeccio.] (Meteor.) A dry sirocco of Spain.

Le`vo*ro*ta"tion (?), n. [Written also lævorotation.] [Levo- + rotation.] (Physics & Chem.) Rotation in the direction of an outgoing right-handed screw; counter-clockwise rotation; -- applied chiefly to the turning of the plane of polarization of light.

Li`bel*lee" (?), n. (Law) (a) The party against whom a libel has been filed; -- corresponding to defendant in a common law action. (b) The defendant in an action of libel.

||Lie"der*kranz, n. [G. See Lied, and Grants.] (Mus.) Lit., wreath of songs; -- used as the title of a group of songs, and esp. as the common name for German vocal clubs of men.

Light"*struck`, a. (Photog.) Damaged by accidental exposure to light; light-fogged; -- said of plates or films.

Light"weight` (?), n. One of less than average weight; specif.: (a) In boxing, wrestling, etc., one weighingnot more than 133 pounds (U. S. amateur rules 135 pounds, Eng. 140 pounds). (b) A person of small impotance or mental ability. [Colloq., Chiefly U. S.]

Light"weight`, a. Light in weight, as a coin; specif., applied to a man or animal who is a lightweight.

Light year. (Astron.) The distance over which light can travel in a year's time; -- used as a unit in expressing stellar distances. It is more than 63,000 times as great as the distance from the earth to the sun.

Like, n. (Golf) The stroke which equalizes the number of strokes played by the opposing player or side; as, to play the like.

||Li"kin`, n. [Written also lekin.] [ Chin. li kin; li the thousandth part of a tael + kin money.] A Chinese provincial tax levied at many inland stations upon imports or articles in transit.

"Likin," which used to be regarded as illegal, as one of the many, "squeezes" imposed by the mandarins, is, in Jamieson's opinion, just as legal as any other form of taxation.

A. R. Colquhoun.

Lil"y, n. (Auction Bridge) A royal spade; -- usually in pl. See Royal spade, below.

{Lim"burg cheese, Lim"burg*er, n., Lim"burg*er cheese} (?). A soft cheese made in the Belgian province of Limburg (Limbourg), and usually not eaten until the curing has developed a peculiar and, to most people, unpleasant odor.

Lime"light`, n. (Theat.) That part of the stage upon which the limelight as cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated. Hence, consspicuous position before the public; as, politicians who are never happy except in the limelight.

Lim"er*ick (?), n. [Said to be from a song with the same verse construction, current in Ireland, the refrain of which contains the place name Limerick.] A nonsense poem of five anapestic lines, of which lines 1, 2, and 5 are of there feet, and rime, and lines 3 and 4 are of two feet, and rime; as --

There was a young lady, Amanda, Whose Ballades Lyriques were quite fin de Siècle, I deem But her Journal Intime Was what sent her papa to Uganda.

Li`mou*sine" (?), n. [Cf. F. limousine a kind of cloak, fr. Limousin, an old province in central France.] An automobile body with seats and permanent top like a coupé, and with the top projecting over the driver and a projecting front; also, an automobile with such a body.

{ Line"-up`, Line"up` } (?), n. The formation of football players before the start or a restart of play; hence (Colloq.), any arrangement of persons (rarely, of things), esp. when having a common purpose or sentiment; as, the line-up at a ticket-office window; the line-up of political factions.

||Lin`ge*rie (?), n. [F.] Linen goods collectively; linen underwear, esp. of women; the clothing of linen and cotton with its lace, etc., worn by a women.

Lin"gua Fran"ca. Any hybrid or other language used over a wide area as a common or commercial tongue among peoples of different speech.

Link (?), n. [See Linch.] 1. A hill or ridge, as a sand hill, or a wooded or turfy bank between cultivated fields, etc. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]

2. A winding of a river; also, the ground along such a winding; a meander; -- usually in pl. [Scot.]

The windings or "links" of the Forth above and below Stirling are extremely tortuous.

Encyc. Brit.

3. pl. Sand hills with the surrounding level or undulating land, such as occur along the seashore, a river bank, etc. [Scot.]

Golf may be played on any park or common, but its original home is the "links" or common land which is found by the seashore, where the short close tuft, the sandy subsoil, and the many natural obstacles in the shape of bents, whins, sand holes, and banks, supply the conditions which are easential to the proper pursuit of the game.

Encyc. of Sport.

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4. pl. Hence, any such piece of ground where golf is played.

Links (?), n. [The pl. form of Link, but often construed as a sing.] A tract of ground laid out for the game of golf; a golfing green.

A second links has recently been opened at Prestwick, and another at Troon, on the same coast.

P. P. Alexander.

Lin"o*type (?), n. [See Line ; Type.] (Print.) (a) A kind of typesetting machine which produces castings, each of which corresponds to a line of separate types. By pressing upon keys like those of a typewriter the matrices for one line are properly arranged; the stereotype, or slug, is then cast and planed, and the matrices are returned to their proper places, the whole process being automatic. (b) The slug produced by the machine, or matter composed in such lines. -- Lin"o*typ`ist (#), n.

Li"on, n. -- Lion of Lucerne, a famous sculptured lion at Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Thorwaldsen and dedicated in 1821 as a memorial to the Swiss Guards who fell defending Louis XVI. in the attack of the mob on the Tuileries, Aug. 10, 1792. The animal, which is hewn out of the face of a rock, is represented as transfixed with a broken spear and dying, but still trying to protect with its paw a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis of France. -- Lion of St. Mark, a winged lion, the emblem of the evangelist Mark, especially that of bronze surmounting a granite column in the Piazzetta at Venice, and holding in its fore paws an open book representing St. Mark's Gospel. -- Lion of the North, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), King of Sweden, the hero of the Protestant faith in the Thirty Years' War.

Liq"uid air. (Physics) A transparent limpid liquid, slightly blue in color, consisting of a mixture of liquefied oxygen and nitrogen. It is prepared by subjecting air to great pressure and then cooling it by its own expansion to a temperature below the boiling point of its constituents (N -194° C; O - 183° C.).

List (?), v. t. 1. To plow and plant with a lister.

2. In cotton culture, to prepare, as land, for the crop by making alternating beds and alleys with the hoe. [Southern U. S.]

List"er (?), n. [Cf. List a strip, border, prob. applied to the furrow or the ridge of earth along the furrow.] A double-moldboard plow which throws a deep furrow, and at the same time plants and covers grain in the bottom of the furrow.

Lis"ter*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. -ized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. -izing (?).] (Med.) To make antiseptic.

Li"tchi` (?), n. (Bot.) A genus of East Indian sapindaceous trees consisting of a single species (Litchi Chinensis, syn. Nephelium Litchi) which bears the litchi nut.

Lith"o*phane (?), n. [Litho- + Gr. &?; to show, reveal.] Porcelain impressed with figures which are made distinct by transmitted light, as in a lamp shade. -- Lith`o*phan"ic (#), a. -- Li*thoph"a*ny (#), n.

Lith"o*sphere (?), n. [Litho- + sphere.] (Phys. Geog.) (a) The solid earth as distinguished from its fluid envelopes, the hydrosphere and atmosphere. (b) The outer part of the solid earth, the portion undergoing change through the gradual transfer of material by volcanic eruption, the circulation of underground water, and the process of erosion and deposition. It is, therefore, regarded as a third mobile envelope comparable with the hydrosphere and atmosphere.

Lith"o*type (?), n. 1. An etched stone surface for printing, having the design in relief; also, the process of printing from such a surface, or that which is printed from it.

2. A machine, with a keyboard like that of a typewriter, for making a lithographic transfer sheet. It produces a perforated strip of paper which controls the printing.

Lit"tle, a. -- Little Englander, an Englishman opposed to territorial expansion of the British Empire. See Antiimperialism, above. Hence: Little Englandism. -- Little-neck clam, or Little neck (Zoöl.), the quahog, or round clam. -- Little peach, a disease of peaches in which the fruit is much dwarfed, and the leaves grow small and thin. The cause is not known. -- Little Rhod"y (&?;), Rhode Island; -- a nickname alluding to its small size. It is the smallest State of the United States. -- Little Sisters of the Poor (R. C. Ch.), an order of women who care for old men and women and infirm poor, for whom special houses are built. It was established at St. Servan, Britany, France, in 1840, by the Abbé Le Pailleur. -- Little slam (Bridge Whist), the winning of 12 out of the 13 tricks. It counts 20 points on the honor score.

Liv"ing pic"ture. A tableau in which persons take part; also, specif., such a tableau as imitating a work of art.

Lob (?), n. The act of lobbing; specif., an (often gentle) stroke which sends a ball up into the air, as in tennis to avoid a player at the net.

Lob"ster, n. As a term of opprobrium or contempt: A gullible, awkward, bungling, or undesirable person. [Slang]

Lo"co (?), n. (Bot.) Any one of various leguminous plants or weeds besides Astragalus, whose herbage is poisonous to cattle, as Spiesia Lambertii, syn. Oxytropis Lambertii.

Lo"co, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Locoed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Locoing.] To poison with loco; to affect with the loco disease; hence (Colloq.), to render insane or mad. "The locoed novelist." W. D. Howells.

Lo"co, n. A locomotive. [Colloq.] Kipling.

Loco disease. (Veter.) A chronic nervous affection of cattle, horses, and sheep, caused by eating the loco weed and characterized by a slow, measured gait, high step, glassy eyes with defective vision, delirium, and gradual emaciation.