Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
LITHOPHYTOUS — LOCHAGE
LITHOPHYTOUS, a. Pertaining to or consisting of lithophytes.
LITHOTOME, n. [Gr. stone, and to cut.]
A stone so formed naturally as to appear as if cut artificially.
LITHOTOMIC, a. Pertaining to or performed by lithotomy.
LITHOTOMIST, n. [See Lithotomy.] One who performs the operation of cutting for the stone in the bladder; or one who is skilled in the operation.
LITHOTOMY, n. [Gr. stone, and to cut.]
The operation, art or practice of cutting for the stone in the bladder.
LITHOXYLE, n. [Gr. stone, and wood.]
Petrified wood. It differs from lignite, being really changed into stone; such as silicified woods, which are changed into varieties of silex, etc.
LITHY, a. [See Lithe.] Easily bent; pliable. [This is probably the word which, in our popular use, is pronounced lathy.]
LITIGANT, a. [See Litigate.] Contending in law; engaged in a lawsuit; as the parties litigant.
LITIGANT, n. A person engaged in a lawsuit.
LITIGATE, v.t. [L. litigo, from lis, litis, a contest or debate.]
To contest in law; to prosecute or defend by pleadings, exhibition of evidence, and judicial debate; as, to litigate a cause or a question.
LITIGATE, v.i. To dispute in law; to carry on a suit by judicial process.
LITIGATED, pp. Contested judicially.
LITIGATING, ppr. Contesting in law.
LITIGATION, n. The act or process of carrying on a suit in a court of law or equity for the recovery of a right or claim; a judicial contest.
LITIGIOUS, a. [L. litigiosus.]
1. Inclined to judicial contest; given to the practice of contending in law; quarrelsome; contentious; applied to persons. a litigious man is a bad neighbor and a bad citizen.
2. Disputable; controvertible; subject to contention; as litigious right.
No fences, parted fields, nor marks nor bounds, distinguish’d acres of litigious grounds.
LITIGIOUSLY, adv. In a contentious manner.
LITIGIOUSNESS, n. A disposition to engage in or carry on lawsuits; inclination to judicial contests.
LITMUS, LACMUS, n. A blue pigment, formed from archil, a species of lichen. [See Archil.] It is prepared by bruising the archil, and adding quick lime and putrefied urine, or spirit of urine distilled from lime. The mixture, after cooling and the evaporation of the fluid, becomes a mass of the consistence of paste, which is laid on a board to dry in square lumps.
LITORN, n. A bird, a species of thrush, in size and shape resembling the hen-blackbird.
LITOTE, n. [Gr. slender. diminution; extenuation.]
LITTER, n. [L. lectus, from the root of lego, Eng. lay.]
1. A vehicle formed with shafts supporting a bed between them, in which a person may be borne by men or by a horse. If by the latter, it is called a horse-litter. A similar vehicle in India is called a palanquin.
2. Straw, hay or other soft substance, used as a bed for horses and for other purposes.
3. A brood of young pigs, kittens, puppies or other quadrupeds. The word is applied only to certain quadrupeds of the smaller kinds.
4. A birth of pigs or other small animals.
5. Waste matters, shreds, fragments and the like, scattered on a floor or other clean place.
LITTER, v.t.
1. To bring forth young, as swine and other small quadrupeds. It is sometimes applied to human beings in contempt.
2. To scatter over carelessly with shreds, fragments and the like; as, to litter a room or a carpet.
3. To cover with straw or hay; as, to litter a stable.
4. To supply with litter; as to litter cattle.
LITTERED, pp.
1. Furnished with straw.
2. a. Covered or overspread with litter, pieces, shreds, etc.
LITTLE, a.
1. Small in size or extent; not great or large; as a little body; a little animal; a little piece of ground; a little table; a little book; a little hill; a little distance; a little child.
2. Short in duration; as a little time or season; a little sleep.
3. Small in quantity or amount; as a little hay or grass; a little food; a little sum; a little light; a little air or water.
4. Of small dignity, power or importance.
When thou wast little in thy own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes? 1 Samuel 15:17.
5. Of small force or effect; slight; inconsiderable; as little attention or exertions; little effort; little care or diligence, little weight.
LITTLE, n.
1. A small quantity or amount. He demanded much and obtained little. He had little of his father’s liberality.
2. A small space.
Much was in little writ -
3. Any thing small, slight or of inconsiderable importance.
I view with anger and disdain.
How little gives thee joy and pain.
4. Not much.
These they are fitted for, and little else.
LITTLE, adv.
1. In a small degree; slightly; as, he is little changed. It is a little discolored.
2. Not much; in a small quantity or space of time. He sleeps little.
3. In some degree; slightly; sometimes preceded by a. The liquor is a little sour or astringent.
LITTLENESS, n.
1. Smallness of size or bulk; as the littleness of the body or of an animal.
2. Meanness; want of grandeur; as littleness of conception.
3. Want of dignity. Contemplations on the majesty of God displayed in his works, may awaken in us a sense of our own littleness.
4. Meanness; penuriousness.
LITTORAL, a. [L. littoralis, from litus, shore.] Belonging to a shore. [Little used.]
LITUITE, n. A fossil shell.
LITURGICAL, a. [See Liturgy.] Pertaining to a liturgy.
LITURGY, n. [Gr. public, and work.]
In a general sense, all public ceremonies that belong to divine service; hence, in a restricted sense, among the Romanists, the mass; and among protestants, the common prayer, or the formulary of public prayers.
LIVE, v.i. liv.
1. To abide; to dwell; to have settled residence in any place. Where do you live? I live in London. He lives in Philadelphia. He lives in a large house on Second street. The Swiss live on mountains. The Bedouin Arabs live in the dessert.
2. To continue; to be permanent; not to perish.
Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.
3. To be animated; to have the vital principle; to have the bodily functions in operation, or in a capacity to operate, as respiration, circulation of blood, secretions, etc.; applied to animals.
I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? Genesis 45:3.
4. To have the principles of vegetable life; to be in a state in which the organs do or may perform their functions in the circulation of sap and in growth; applied to plants. This tree will not live, unless watered; it will not live through the winter.
5. To pass life or time in a particular manner, with regard to habits or condition. In what manner does your son live? Does he live according to the dictates of reason and the precepts of religion?
If we act by several broken views, we shall live and die in misery.
6. To continue in life. The way to live long is to be temperate.
7. To live, emphatically; to enjoy life; to be in a state of happiness.
What greater curse could envious fortune give, than just to die, when I began to live?
8. To feed; to subsist; to be nourished and supported in life; as, horses live on grass or grain; fowls live on seeds or insects; some kinds of fish live on others; carnivorous animals live on flesh.
9. To subsist; to be maintained in life; to be supported. Many of the clergy are obliged to live on small salaries. All men in health may live by industry with economy, yet some men live by robbery.
10. To remain undestroyed; to float; not to sink or founder. It must be a good ship that lives at sea in a hurricane.
Nor can our shaken vessels live at sea.
11. To exist; to have being.
As I live, saith the Lord - Ezekiel 18:3.
12. In Scripture, to be exempt from death, temporal or spiritual.
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Leviticus 18:5.
13. To recover from sickness; to have life prolonged.
Thy son liveth. John 4:50-51.
14. To be inwardly quickened, nourished and actuated by divine influence or faith. Galatians 2:19-20.
15. To be greatly refreshed, comforted and animated.
For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 3:8.
16. To appear as in life or reality; to be manifest in real character.
And all the writer lives in every line.
1. To live with, to dwell or to be a lodger with.
2. To cohabit; to have intercourse, as male and female.
LIVE, v.t. liv.
1. To continue in constantly or habitually; as, to live a life of ease.
2. To act habitually in conformity to.
It is not enough to say prayers, unless they live them too.
LIVE, a.
1. Having life; having respiration and other organic functions in operation, or in a capacity to operate; not dead; as a live ox.
2. Having vegetable life; as a live plant.
3. Containing fire; ignited; not extinct; as a live coal.
4. Vivid, as color.
LIVELESS, not used. [See Lifeless.]
LVELIHOOD, n. [lively and hood, or lifelode, from lead.]
Means of living; support of life; maintenance. Trade furnishes many people with an honest livelihood. Men of enterprise seek a livelihood where they can find it.
LIVELINESS, n. [from lively.]
1. The quality or state of being lively or animated; sprightliness; vivacity; animation; spirit; as the liveliness of youth, contrasted with the gravity of age.
2. An appearance of life, animation or spirit; as the liveliness of the eye or countenance in a portrait.
3. Briskness; activity; effervescence, as of liquors.
LIVELODE, for livelihood, not used.
LIVELONG, a. liv’long. [live and long.]
1. Long in passing.
How could she sit the livelong day, yet never ask us once to play?
2. Lasting; durable; as a livelong monument. [Not used.]
3. A plant of the genus Sedum.
LIVELY, a.
1. Brisk; vigorous; vivacious; active; as a lively youth.
2. Gay; airy.
From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
3. Representing life; as a lively imitation of nature.
4. Animated; spirited; as a lively strain of eloquence; a lively description.
5. Strong; energetic; as a lively faith or hope; a lively persuasion.
Lively stones, in scripture. Saints are called lively stones, as being quickened by the Spirit and active in holiness.
LIVELY, adv.
1. Briskly; vigorously. [Little used.]
2. With strong resemblance of life.
That part of poetry must needs be best, which describes most lively our actions and passions. [Little used.]
LIVER, n. One who lives.
And try if life be worth the liver’s care.
It is often used with a word of qualification; as a high liver; a loose liver, etc.
LIVER, n.
A viscus or intestine of considerable size and of a reddish color, convex on the anterior and superior side, and of an unequal surface on the inferior and posterior side. It is situated under the false ribs, in the right hypochondrium. It consists of two lobes, of a glandular substance, and destined for the secretion of the bile.
LIVERCOLOR, a. Dark red; of the color of the liver.
LIVERED, a. Having a liver; as white-livered.
LIVERGROWN, a. Having a large liver.
LIVERSTONE, n. A stone or species of earth of the barytic genus, of a gray or brown color, which, when rubbed or heated to redness, emits the smell of liver of sulphur, or alkaline sulphuret.
LIVERWORT, n. The name of many species of plants. Several of the lichens are so called. The liverworts (Hepaticae) are a natural order of cryptogamian plants whose herbage is generally frondose, and resembling the leafy lichens, but whose seeds are contained in a distinct capsule. The noble liverwort is the Anemone hepatica.
LIVERY, n.
1. The act of delivering possession of lands or tenements; a term of English law. It is usual to say, livery of seisin, which is feudal investiture, made by the delivery of a turf, of a rod or twig, from the feoffor to the feoffee. In America, no such ceremony is necessary to a conveyance of real estate, the delivery of a deed being sufficient.
2. Release from wardship; deliverance.
3. The writ by which possession os obtained.
4. The state of being kept at a certain rate; as, to keep horses at livery.
5. A form of dress by which noblemen and gentlemen distinguish their servants. The Romish church has also liveries for confessors, virgins, apostles, martyrs, penitents, etc. Hence,
6. A particular dress or garb, appropriate or peculiar to particular times or things; as the livery of May; the livery of autumn.
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray had in her sober livery all things clad.
7. The whole body of liverymen in London.
LIVERY, v.t. To clothe in livery.
LIVERYMAN, n.
1. One who wears a livery; as a servant.
2. In London, a freeman of the city, of some distinction. the liverymen are chosen from among the freemen of each company, and from their number are elected the common council, sheriff and other superior officers of the city. They alone have the right of voting for members of parliament.
LIVERY-STABLE, n. A stable where horses are kept for hire.
LIVES, n. plu. of life.
LIVESTOCK, n. [live and stock.] Horses, cattle and smaller domestic animals; a term applied in America to such animals as may be exported alive for foreign market.
LIVID, a. [L. lividus; from liveo, to be black and blue.]
Black and blue; of a lead color; discolored, as flesh by contusion.
Upon my livid lips bestow a kiss.
LIVIDITY, LIVIDNESS, n. A dark color, like that of bruised flesh. [Lividness is the preferable word.]
LIVING, ppr. [from live.]
1. Dwelling; residing; existing; subsisting; having life or the vital functions in operation; not dead.
2. a. Issuing continually from the earth; running; flowing; as a living spring or fountain; opposed to stagnant.
3. a. Producing action, animation and vigor; quickening; as a living principle; a living faith.
LIVING, n. He or those who are alive; usually with a plural signification; as in the land of the living.
The living will lay it to his heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2.
LIVING, n.
1. Means of subsistence; estate.
He divided to them his living. Luke 15:12.
She of her want, did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Mark 12:44.
2. Power of continuing life. There is no living with a scold.
There is no living without trusting some body or other in some cases.
3. Livelihood. He made a living by his occupation. The woman spins for a living.
4. The benefice of a clergyman. He lost his living by non-conformity.
LIVINGLY, adv. In a living state.
Livonica terra, a species of fine bole found in Livonia, brought to market in little cakes.
LIVRE, n. [L. libra.] A French money of account, equal to 20 sous, or ten pence sterling.
LIXIVIAL, LIXIVIOUS, a. [L. lixivius, from lix lye.]
1. Obtained by lixiviation; impregnated with alkaline salt extracted from wood ashes. Lixivial salts are those which are obtained by passing water through ashes, or by pouring it on them.
2. Containing salt extracted from the ashes of wood.
3. Of the color of lye; resembling lye.
4. Having the qualities of alkaline salts from wood ashes.
LIXIVIATE, LIXIVIATED, a.
1. Pertaining to lye or lixivium; of the quality of alkaline salts.
2. Impregnated with salts from wood ashes.
LIXIVIATE, v.t. [L. lixivia, lixivium, lye.] To form lye; to impregnate with lye; to impregnate with salts from wood ashes. Water is lixiviated by passing through ashes.
LIXIVIATION, n. The operation or process of extracting alkaline salts from ashes by pouring water on them, the water passing through them imbibing the salts.
LIXIVIUM, n. [L. from lix, lye.]
Lye; water impregnated with alkaline salts imbibed from wood ashes. It is sometimes applied to other extracts.
LIZARD, n. [L. lacertus, lacerta, there has been a change of c into z or s, which may be the fact.]
In zoology, a genus of amphibious animals, called Lacerta, and comprehending the crocodile, alligator, chameleon, salamander, etc. But the name, in common life, is applied to the smaller species of this genus, and of these there is a great variety. These animals are ranked in the order of reptiles. The body is naked, with four feet and a tail. The body is thicker and more tapering than that of the serpent.
LIZARD-TAIL, n. A plant of the genus Saururus, and another of the genus Piper.
LL.D. letters standing for Doctor of Laws, the title of an honorary degree.
LO, exclam.
Look; see; behold; observe. This word is used to excite particular attention in a hearer to some object of sight, or subject of discourse.
Lo, here is Christ. Matthew 24:23.
Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46.
LOACH, LOCHE, n. A small fish of the genus Cobitis, inhabiting small clear streams, and esteemed dainty food.
LOAD, n. [See Lade.]
1. A burden; that which is laid on or put in any thing for conveyance. Thus we lay a load on a beat or on a man’s shoulders, or on a cart or wagon; and we say, a light load, heavy load. A load then is indefinite in quantity or weight. But by usage, in some cases, the word has a more definite signification, and expresses a certain quantity or weight, or as much as is usually carried, or as can be well sustained. Load is never used for the cargo of a ship; this is called loading, lading, freight, or cargo.
2. Any heavy burden; a large quantity borne or sustained. a tree may be said to have a load of fruit upon it.
3. That which is borne with pain or difficulty; a grievous weight; encumbrance; in a literal sense.
Jove lightened of its load th’ enormous mass -
In a figurative sense, we say, a load of care or grief; a load of guilt or crimes.
4. Weight or violence of blows.
5. A quantity of food or drink that oppresses, or as much as can be borne.
6. Among miners, the quantity of nine dishes of ore, each dish being about half a hundred weight.
LOAD, v.t. pret. and pp. loaded. [loaden, formerly used, is obsolete and laden belongs to lade. Load, from the noun, is a regular verb.]
1. To lay on a burden; to put on or in something to be carried, or as much as can be carried; as, to load a camel or a horse; to load a cart or wagon. To load a gun, is to charge, or to put in a sufficient quantity of powder, or powder and ball or shot.
2. To encumber; to lay on or put in that which is borne with pain or difficulty; in a literal sense, as to load the stomach with meat; or in a figurative sense, as to load the mind or memory.
3. To make heavy by something added or appended.
Thy dreadful vow, loaden with death -
So in a literal sense, to load a whip.
4. To bestow or confer on in great abundance; as, to load one with honors; to load with reproaches.
LOADED, pp.
1. Charged with a load or cargo; having a burden; freighted, as a ship; having a charge of powder, or powder and shot, as a gun.
2. Burdened with any thing oppressive; as loaded with cares, with guilt or shame.
LOADER, n. One who put on a load.
LOADING, ppr. Charging with a load; burdening; encumbering; charging, as a gun.
LOADING, n. A cargo; a burden; also, any thing that makes part of a load.
LOADMANAGE, n. Pilotage; skill of a pilot. [Not in use.]
LOADSMAN, n. [load and man.] A pilot. Obs.
LOADSTAR, LODESTAR, n. [lead and star.] The star that leads; the polestar; the cynosure. Obs.
LOADSTONE, n. [from the verb lead and stone. The old orthography, lodestone, is most correct, as this word has no connection with the verb to load.]
The native magnet, an ore of iron in the lowest state of oxidation, which has the power of attracting metallic iron, as iron filings, and of communicating to masses of iron the same property of attraction, forming artificial magnets. [See Lodestone.]
LOAF, n. plu. loaves.
1. A mass of bread when baked. It is larger than a cake. The size and price of a loaf, in large cities, are regulated by law.
2. A mass or lump, as of sugar.
3. Any thick mass.
LOAF-SUGAR, n. Sugar refined and formed into a conical mass.
LOAM, n. [L. limus.]
A natural mixture of sand and clay with oxyd of iron; a species of earth or soil of different colors, whitish, brown or yellow, readily diffusible in water.
LOAM, v.t. To cover with loam.
LOAMY, a. Consisting of loam; partaking of the nature of loam, or resembling it.
LOAN, n.
1. The act of lending; a lending.
2. That which is lent; any thing furnished for temporary use to a person at his request, on the express or implied condition that the specific thing shall be returned, or its equivalent in kind, but without compensation for the use; as a loan of a book or of bread.
3. Something furnished for temporary use, on the condition that it shall be returned or its equivalent, but with a compensation for the use. In this sense, loan is generally applied to money. [See Lend.]
4. A furnishing; permission to use; grant of the use; as a loan of credit.
LOAN, v.t.
To lend; to deliver to another for temporary use, on condition that the thing shall be returned, as a book; or to deliver for use, on condition that an equivalent in kind shall be returned, as bread; or to deliver for temporary use, on condition that an equivalent in kind shall be returned, with a compensation for the use, as in the case of money at interest. Bills of credit were issued, to be loaned on interest.
LOAN-OFFICE, n. In America, a public office in which loans of money are negotiated for the public, or in which the accounts of loans are kept and the interest paid to the lenders.
LOAN-OFFICER, n. A public officer empowered to superintend and transact the business of a loan-office.
LOATH, LOTH, a. [In America, the primitive pronunciation of lath, that is, lawth, is retained in the adjective, which is written loth. The verb would be better written lothe, in analogy with cloth, clothe. See Loth.]
Disliking; unwilling; reluctant. He was loth to leave the company. [See Loth.]
LOATHE, LOTHE, v.t. To hate; to look on with hatred or abhorrence; particularly, to feel disgust at food or drink, either from natural antipathy, or a sickly appetite, or from satiety, or from its ill taste. [See Lothe.]
LOATHER, n. One that lothes.
LOATHFUL, a.
1. Hating; abhorring through disgust.
2. Abhorred; hated.
LOATHING, ppr. Hating from disgust; abhorring.
LOATHINGLY, adv. In a fastidious manner.
LOATHLY, a. Hateful; exciting hatred. Obs.
LOATHLY, adv. Unwillingly; reluctantly. [See Lothly.]
LOATHNESS, n. Unwillingness; reluctance. [See Lothness.]
LOATHSOME, a.
1. Disgusting; exciting disgust.
2. Hateful; abhorred; detestable.
3. Causing fastidiousness. [See Lothsome.]
LOATHSOMENESS, n. The quality which excites disgust, hatred or abhorrence.
LOAVES, plu. of loaf.
LOB, n.
1. A dull, heavy, sluggish person.
2. Something thick and heavy; as in lobworm.
LOB, v.t. To let fall heavily or lazily.
And their poor jades lob down their heads.
LOBATE, LOBED, a. [from lobe.] Consisting of lobes. In botany, divided to the middle into parts distant from each other, with convex margins.
LOBBY, n.
1. An opening before a room, or an entrance into a principal apartment, where there is a considerable space between that and the portico or vestibule.
2. A small hall or waiting room.
3. A small apartment taken from a hall or entry.
4. In a ship, an apartment close before the captain’s cabin.
5. In agriculture, a confined place for cattle, formed by hedges, trees or other fencing, near the farm-yard.
LOBE, n. [L. lobus; Gr.]
1. A part or division of the lungs, liver, etc.
2. The lower soft part of the ear.
3. A division of a simple leaf.
4. The cotyledon or placenta of a seed.
LOBED, a. Lobate, which see.
LOBSPOUND, n. A prison.
LOBSTER, n.
A crustaceous fish of the genus Cancer. Lobsters have large claws and fangs, and four pair of legs. They are said to change their crust annually, and to be frightened at thunder or other loud report. They constitute an article of food.
LOBULE, n. A small lobe.
LOCAL, a. [L. localis; from locus, place, loco. See Lay.]
1. Pertaining to a place, or to a fixed or limited portion of space. We say, the local situation of the house is pleasant. We are often influenced in our opinions by local circumstances.
2. Limited or confined to a spot, place, or definite district; as a local custom. The yellow fever is local in its origin, and often continues for a time, to be a local disease.
3. In law, local actions are such as must be brought in a particular county, where the cause arises; distinguished from transitory actions.
LOCALITY, n.
1. Existence in a place, or in a certain portion of space.
It is thought that the soul and angels are devoid of quantity and dimension, and that they have nothing to do with grosser locality.
2. Limitation to a county, district or place; as locality of trial.
3. Position; situation; place; particularly; geographical place or situation, as of a mineral or plant.
LOCALLY, adv. With respect to place; in place; as, to be locally separated or distant.
LOCATE, v.t. [L. loco, locatus.]
1. To place; to set in a particular spot or position.
2. To select, survey and settle the bounds of a particular tract of land; or to designate a portion of land by limits; as, to locate a tract of a hundred acres in a particular township.
3. To designate and determine the place of; as, a committee was appointed to locate a church or a court house.
LOCATED, pp. Placed; situated; fixed in place.
LOCATING, ppr. Placing; designating the place of.
LOCATION, n.
1. The act of placing, or of designating the place of.
2. Situation with respect to place. The location of the city on a large river is favorable for commerce.
3. That which is located; a tract of land designated in place.
4. In the civil law, a leasing on rent.
LOCH, n. A lake; a bay or arm of the sea; used in Scotland.
LOCH, n. Loch or lohoch, is an Arabian name for the forms of medicines called eclegmas, lambatives, linctures, and the like.
LOCHAGE, n. [Gr. a body of soldiers, and to lead.]
In Greece, an officer who commanded a lochus or cohort, the number of men in which is not certainly known.