What does lead mean?

What does lead mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does lead mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] an advantage held by a competitor in a race(he took the lead at the last turn)[v] take somebody somewhere(We lead him to our chief can you take me to the main entrance? He conducted us to the palace)[n] a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but ta

lead

lead - The Free Dictionary

[n] an advantage held by a competitor in a race
(he took the lead at the last turn)

[v] take somebody somewhere
(We lead him to our chief can you take me to the main entrance? He conducted us to the palace)

[n] a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull grey
(the children were playing with lead soldiers)

[v] have as a result or residue
(The water left a mark on the silk dress Her blood left a stain on the napkin)

[n] evidence pointing to a possible solution
(the police are following a promising lead the trail led straight to the perpetrator)

[v] tend to or result in
(This remark lead to further arguments among the guests)

[n] a position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead')
(he takes the lead in any group we were just waiting for someone to take the lead they didn't follow our lead)

[v] travel in front of; go in advance of others
(The procession was headed by John)

[n] the angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile)

[v] cause to undertake a certain action
(Her greed led her to forge the checks)

[n] the introductory section of a story
(it was an amusing lead-in to a very serious matter)

[v] stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point
(Service runs all the way to Cranbury His knowledge doesn't go very far My memory extends back to my fourth year of life The facts extend beyond a consideration of her personal assets)

[n] (sports) the score by which a team or individual is winning

[v] be in charge of
(Who is heading this project?)

[n] an actor who plays a principal role

[v] be ahead of others; be the first
(she topped her class every year)

[n] (baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base
(he took a long lead off first)

[v] be conducive to
(The use of computers in the classroom lead to better writing)

[n] an indication of potential opportunity
(he got a tip on the stock market a good lead for a job)

[v] lead, as in the performance of a composition
(conduct an orchestra; Barenboim conducted the Chicago symphony for years)

[n] a news story of major importance

[v] lead, extend, or afford access
(This door goes to the basement The road runs South)

[n] the timing of ignition relative to the position of the piston in an internal-combustion engine

[v] move ahead (of others) in time or space

[n] restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal

[v] cause something to pass or lead somewhere
(Run the wire behind the cabinet)

[n] thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing

[v] preside over
(John moderated the discussion)

[n] mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil

[n] a jumper that consists of a short piece of wire
(it was a tangle of jumper cables and clip leads)

[n] the playing of a card to start a trick in bridge
(the lead was in the dummy)

Other vocabulary

l, l'aquila, l'enfant, l-dopa, l-p, l-plate, l-shaped, l. m. montgomery, l. monocytogenes, l. ron hubbard, l. s. lowry, la, la crosse, la fayette, la fontaine, la paz, la plata, la rochefoucauld, la spezia, la tour, la-di-da, laager, lab, lab bench, lab coat, laban, labanotation, labdanum, label, labeled, e, e layer, e region, e'en, e'er, e-bomb, e-commerce, e-mail, e-mycin, e. a. von willebrand, e. b. white, e. coli, e. e. cummings, e. g. marshall, e. h. harriman, e. h. weber, e. l. doctorow, e. o. lawrence, e. o. wilson, e. t. a. hoffmann, e. t. s. walton, e. w. morley, e.g., e.s.p., ea, each, each week, each year, eacles, eacles imperialis

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.