lea
nounnounattested in dialogue
- //liː//
- //leɪ//
An open field, meadow, pasture.
noun
- 1
An open field, meadow, pasture.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
19th century, Alfred Tennyson, Circumstance Two children in two neighbor villages Playing mad pranks along the heathy leas;
Etymology
From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”), from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-West Germanic *lauh (“meadow”), from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”). Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (“in placenames”)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse ló (“clearing, meadow”).
noun
- 1
Any of several measures of yarn; for linen, 300 yards (275 m); for cotton, 120 yards (110 m).
- 2
A set of warp threads carried by a loop of the heddle.
Etymology
From Middle English le, lee, ley, of uncertain origin. Compare Old French lier (“to bind”), Old French laisse (“leash, cord”), Old French lïace, lïaz (“bundle”).
Forms
- plural
- leas