Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
LOCHE — LONGLEGGED
LOCHE. [See Loach.]
LOCHIA, n. [Gr.] Evacuations which follow childbirth.
LOCHIAL, a. Pertaining to evacuations from the womb after childbirth.
LOCK, n. [L. floccus, Eng. lock.]
1. Lock, in its primary sense, is any thing that fastens; but we now appropriate the word to an instrument composed of a spring, wards, and a bolt of iron or steel, used to fasten doors, chests and the like. The bolt is moved by a key.
2. The part of a musket or fowling-piece or other fire-arm, which contains the pan, trigger, etc.
3. The barrier or works of a canal, which confine the water, consisting of a dam, banks or walls, with two gates or pairs of gates, which may be opened or shut at pleasure.
4. A grapple in wrestling.
5. Any inclosure.
6. A tuft of hair; a plexus of wool, hay or other like substance; a flock; a ringlet of hair.
A lock of hair will draw more than a cable rope.
Lock of water, is the measure equal to the contents of the chamber of the locks by which the consumption of water on a canal is estimated.
LOCK-KEEPER, n. One who attends the locks of a canal.
LOCK-PADDLE, n. A small sluse that serves to fill and empty a lock.
LOCK-SIL, n. An angular piece of timber at the bottom of a lock, against which the gates shut.
LOCK-WEIR, n. A paddle-weir, in canals, an over-fall behind the upper gates, by which the waste water of the upper pound is let down through the paddle-holes into the chamber of the lock.
LOCK, v.t.
1. To fasten with a particular instrument; as, to lock a door; to lock a trunk.
2. To shut up or confine, as with a lock; as, to be locked in a prison. Lock the secret in your breast.
3. To close fast. The frost locks up our rivers.
4. To embrace closely; as, to lock one in the arms.
5. To furnish with locks, as a canal.
6. To confine; to restrain. Our shipping was locked up by the embargo.
7. In fencing, to seize the sword-arm of an antagonist, by turning the left arm around it, after closing the parade, shell to shell, in order to disarm him.
LOCK, v.i.
1. To become fast. The door locks close.
2. To unite closely by mutual insertion; as, they lock into each other.
LOCKAGE, n.
1. Materials for locks in a canal.
2. Works which form a lock on a canal.
3. Toll paid for passing the locks of a canal.
LOCKED, pp. Made fast by a lock; furnished with a lock or locks; closely embraced.
LOCKER, n. A close place, as a drawer or an apartment in a ship, that may be closed with a lock.
A shot-locker is a strong frame of plank near the pump-well in the hold, where shot are deposited.
LOCKET, n. A small lock; a catch or spring to fasten a necklace or other ornament.
LOCKRAM, n. A sort of coarse linen.
LOCKSMITH, n. An artificer whose occupation is to make locks.
LOCKY, a. Having locks or tufts.
LOCOMOTION, n. [L. locus, place, and motio, motion.]
1. The act of moving from place to place.
2. The power of moving from place to place. Most animals possess locomotion; plants have life, but not locomotion.
LOCOMOTIVE, a. Moving from place to place; changing place, or able to change place; as a locomotive animal. Most animals are distinguished from plants by their locomotive faculty.
Locomotive engine, a steam engine employed in land carriage; chiefly on railways.
LOCOMOTIVITY, n. The power of changing place.
LOCULAMENT, n. [L. loculamentum, from locus, loculus.]
In botany, the cell of a pericarp in which the seed is lodged. A pericarp is unilocular, bilocular, etc.
LOCUST, n. [L. locusta.] An insect of the genus Gryllus. These insects are at times so numerous in Africa and the S. of Asia as to devour every green thing, and when they migrate, they fly in an immense cloud.
LOCUST, n. A name of several plants and trees; as a species of Melianthus, and of Ceratonia.
LOCUST-TREE, n. A tree of the genus Hymenaea, and another of the genus Robinia. The Honey-Locust-tree, is of the genus Gleditsia.
LODE, n.
1. Among miners, a metallic vein, or any regular vein or course, whether metallic or not, but commonly a metallic vein.
2. A cut or reach of water.
LODE-STONE, n. [from the verb to lead, and stone.]
1. A magnet, an ore of iron; a stone found in iron mines, of a dark or black lead color, and of considerable hardness and weight. It attracts iron filings, and communicates to iron the same property of attraction. But its peculiar value consists in its communicating to a needle the property of taking a direction to the north and south, a property of inestimable utility in navigation and surveying.
2. A name given by Cornish miners to a species of stones, called also tin-stones; a compound of stones and sand, of different kinds and colors.
LODGABLE, a. Capable of affording a temporary abode. [Not used.]
LODGE, v.t.
1. To set, lay or deposit for keeping or preservation, for a longer or shorter time. The men lodged their arms in the arsenal.
2. To place; to plant; to infix.
He lodged an arrow in a tender breast.
3. To fix; to settle in the heart, mind or memory.
I can give no reason more than a lodged hate -
4. To furnish with a temporary habitation, or with an accommodation for a night. He lodged the prince a month, a week, or a night. [The word usually denotes a short residence, but for no definite time.]
5. To harbor; to cover. The deer is lodged.
6. To afford place to; to contain for keeping.
The memory can lodge a greater store of images, than the senses can present at one time.
7. To throw in or on; as, to lodge a ball or a bomb in a fort.
8. To throw down; to lay flat.
Our sighs, and they shall lodge the summer corn.
LODGE, v.i.
1. To reside; to dwell; to rest in a place.
And lodge such daring souls in little men.
2. To rest or dwell for a time, as for a night, a week, a month. We lodged a night at the Golden Ball. We lodged a week at the City Hotel. Soldiers lodge in tents in summer, and in huts in winter. Fowls lodge on trees or rocks.
3. To fall flat, as grain. Wheat and oats on strong land are apt to lodge.
LODGE, n.
1. A small house in a park or forest, for a temporary place of rest at night; a temporary habitation; a hut.
2. A small house or tenement appended to a larger; as a porter’s lodge.
3. A den; a cave; any place where a wild beast dwells.
LODGED, pp. Placed at rest; deposited; infixed; furnished with accommodations for a night or other short time; laid flat.
LODGER, n.
1. One who lives at board, or in a hired room, or who has a bed in another’s house for a night.
2. One that resides in any place for a time.
LODGING, ppr.
1. Placing at rest; depositing; furnishing lodgings.
2. Resting for a night; residing for a time.
LODGING, n.
1. A place of rest for a night, or of residence for a time; temporary habitation; apartment.
Wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow.
2. Place of residence.
Fair bosom - the lodging of delight.
3. Harbor; cover; place of rest.
4. Convenience for repose at night.
LODGMENT, n.
1. The act of lodging, or the state of being lodged; a being placed or deposited at rest for keeping for a time or for permanence.
2. Accumulation or collection of something deposited or remaining at rest.
3. In military affairs, an encampment made by an army.
4. A work cast up by besiegers, during their approaches, in some dangerous post which they have gained, and where it is necessary to secure themselves against the enemy’s fire.
LOFFE, v.i. To laugh. [Not used.]
LOFT, n.
1. Properly, an elevation; hence, in a building, the elevation of one story or floor above another; hence, a floor above another; as the second loft; third loft; fourth loft. Spenser seems to have used the word for the highest floor or top, and this may have been its original signification.
2. A high room or place.
LOFTILY, adv. [from lofty.]
1. On high; in an elevated place.
2. Proudly; haughtily.
They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. Psalm 73:8.
3. With elevation of language, diction or sentiment; sublimely.
My lowly verse may loftily arise.
4. In an elevated attitude. A horse carries his head loftily.
LOFTINESS, n.
1. Height; elevation in place or position; altitude; as the loftiness of a mountain.
2. Pride; haughtiness.
Augustus and Tiberius had loftiness enough in their tempers -
3. Elevation of attitude or mien; as loftiness of carriage.
4. Sublimity; elevation of diction or sentiment.
Three poets in three distant ages born; the first in loftiness of thought surpass’d; the next in majesty; in both the last.
LOFTY, a.
1. Elevated in place; high; as a lofty tower; a lofty mountain. [But it expresses more than high, or at least is more emphatical, poetical and elegant.]
See lofty Lebanon his head advance.
2. Elevated in condition or character.
Thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy - Isaiah 57:15.
3. Proud; haughty; as lofty looks. Isaiah 2:11-12.
4. Elevated in sentiment or diction; sublime; as lofty strains; lofty rhyme.
5. Stately; dignified; as lofty steps.
LOG, n.
1. A bulky piece or stick of timer unhewed. Pine logs are floated down rivers in America, and stopped at saw-mills. A piece of timber when hewed or squared, is not called a log, unless perhaps in constructing log-huts.
2. In navigation, a machine for measuring the rate of a ship’s velocity through the water. The common log is a piece of board, forming the quadrant of a circle of about six inches radius, balanced by a small plate of lead nailed on the circular part, so as to swim perpendicular.
3. [Heb.] A Hebrew measure of liquids, containing, according to some authors, three quarters of a pint; according to others, five sixths of a pint. According to Arbuthnot, it was the seventy second part of the bath or ephab, and the twelfth part of a hin.
LOG, v.i. To move to and fro. [Not used.]
LOG-BOARD, n. In navigation, two boards, shutting like a book, and divided into columns, containing the hours of the day and night, direction of the wind, course of the ship, etc., from which is formed the log-book.
LOG-BOOK, n. A book into which are transcribed the contents of the log-board.
LOG-HOUSE, LOG-HUT, n. A house or hut whose walls are composed of logs laid on each other.
LOG-LINE, n. A line or cord about a hundred and fifty fathoms in length, fastened to the log by means of two legs. This is wound on a reel, called the log-reel.
LOG-REEL, n. A reel in the gallery of a ship, on which the log line is wound.
LOGARITHM, n. [Gr. ratio, and number.]
Logarithms are the exponents of a series of powers and roots.
The logarithm of a number is that exponent of some other number, which renders the power of the latter, denoted by the exponent, equal to the former.
When the logarithms form a series in arithmetical progression, the corresponding natural numbers form a series in geometrical progression. Thus,
Logarithms: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Natural numbers: 1 10 100 1000 10000 10000
The addition and subtraction of logarithms answer to the multiplication and division of their natural numbers. In like manner, involution is performed by multiplying the logarithm of any number by the number denoting the required power; and evolution, by dividing the logarithm by the number denoting the required root.
Logarithms are the invention of Baron Napier, lord of Marchiston in Scotland; but the kind now in use, were invented by Henry Briggs, professor of geometry in Gresham college at Oxford. They are extremely useful in abridging the labor of trigonometrical calculations.
LOGARITHMETIC, LOGARITHMETICAL,
LOGARITHMIC, a. Pertaining to logarithms; consisting of logarithms.
LOGGATS, n. The name of a play or game, the same as is now called kittle-pins. It was prohibited by Statute 33, Henry VIII. [Not in use.]
LOGGERHEAD, n. [log and head.]
1. A blockhead; a dunce; a dolt; a thick-skull.
2. A spherical mass of iron, with a long handle; used to heat tar.
To fall to loggerheads,
To go to loggerheads, to come to blows; to fall to fighting without weapons.
LOGGERHEADED, a. Dull; stupid; doltish.
LOGIC, n. [L. id; Gr. from reason, to speak.]
The art of thinking and reasoning justly.
Logic is the art of using reason well in our inquiries after truth, and the communication of it to others.
Logic may be defined, the science or history of the human mind, as it traces the progress of our knowledge from our first conceptions through their different combinations, and the numerous deductions that result from comparing them with one another.
Correct reasoning implies correct thinking and legitimate inferences from premises, which are principles assumed or admitted to be just. Logic then includes the art of thinking, as well as the art of reasoning.
The purpose of logic is to direct the intellectual powers in the investigation of truth, and in the communication of it to others.
LOGICAL, a.
1. Pertaining to logic; used in logic; as logical subtitles.
2. According to the rules of logic; as a logical argument or inference. This reasoning is strictly logical.
3. Skilled in logic; versed in the art of thinking and reasoning; discriminating; as a logical head.
LOGICALLY, adv. According to the rules of logic; as, to argue logically.
LOGICIAN, n. A person skilled in logic, or the art of reasoning.
Each fierce logician still expelling Locke.
LOGISTIC, a. Relating to sexagesimal fractions.
LOGMAN, n.
1. A man who carries logs.
2. One whose occupation is to cut and convey logs to a mill. [Local.]
LOGOGRAPHIC, LOGOGRAPHICAL, a. Pertaining to logography.
LOGOGRAPHY, n. [Gr. a word, and to write.]
A method of printing, in which a type represents a word, instead of forming a letter.
LOGOGRIPHE, n. [Gr.] A sort of riddle. Obs.
LOGOMACHIST, n. One who contends about words.
LOGOMACHY, n. [Gr. word, and contest, altercation.]
Contention in words merely, or rather a contention about words; a war of words.
LOGOMETRIC, a. [Gr. ratio, and to measure.]
A logometric scale is intended to measure or ascertain chimical equivalents.
LOGWOOD, n. A species of tree and wood, called also Campeachy-wood, from the bay of Campeachy in Spanish America, of the genus Haematoxylon, of which there is one species only. This tree has a crooked, deformed stem, growing to the height of 20 or 24 feet, with crooked irregular branches, armed with strong thorns. The wood is of a firm texture and a red color. It is much used in dyeing.
LOHOCH, LOHOCK, n. A medicine of a middle consistence between a soft electuary and a syrup. [See Loch.]
LOIN, n. [L. clumis.]
The loins are the space on each side of the vertebrae, between the lowest of the false ribs and the upper portion of the os ilium or haunch bone, or the lateral portions of the lumbar region; called also the reins.
LOITER, v.i.
To linger; to be slow in moving; to delay; to be dilatory; to spend time idly.
If we have loitered, let us quicken our pace.
LOITERER, n. A lingerer; one that delays or is slow in motion; an idler; one that is sluggish or dilatory.
Ever listless loiterers, that attend no cause, no trust, no duty and no friend.
LOITERING, ppr. Lingering; delaying; moving slowly.
LOKE, n. [Gr. darkness.]
1. In the Scandinavian mythology, the evil deity, the author of all calamities; answering to the Arimanes of the Persians.
2. A close narrow lane. [Local.]
LOLL, v.i. [The sense of this word is to throw, to send. Hence it coincides with the Gr.]
1. To recline; to lean; properly, to throw one’s self down; hence, to lie at ease.
Void of care he lolls supine in state.
2. To suffer the tongue to hang extended from the mouth, as an ox or a dog when heated with labor or exertion.
The triple porter of the Stygian seat, with lolling tongue lay fawning at his feet.
LOLL, v.t. To thrust out, as the tongue.
Fierce tigers couched around, and lolled their tongues.
LOLLARD, n.
The Lollards were a sect of early reformers in Germany and England, the followers of Wickliffe.
LOLLARDY, n. The doctrines of the Lollards.
LOLLING, ppr. Throwing down or out; reclining at ease; thrusting out the tongue.
LOMBARDIC, a. Pertaining to the Lombards; an epithet applied to one of the ancient alphabets derived from the Roman, and relating to the manuscripts of Italy.
LOMENT, n. [L. lomentum.] An elongated pericarp, which never bursts. It consists, like the legume, of two valves, with the seeds attached to the under suture, but is divided into small cells, each containing a single seed.
LOMENTACEOUS, a. [L. lomentum, bean meal, a color.]
Furnished with a loment. The lomentaceae are a natural order of plants, many of which furnish beautiful tinctures or dyes, and whose seeds are contained in a loment or legume.
LOMONITE, n. Laumonite, or di-prismatic zeolite.
LOMP, n. A kind of roundish fish.
LONDONISM, n. A mode of speaking peculiar to London.
LONE, a.
1. Solitary; retired; unfrequented; having no company.
And leave you in lone woods or empty walls.
2. Single; standing by itself; not having others in the neighborhood; as a lone house.
3. Single; unmarried, or in widowhood.
LONE, n. A lane. [Local.]
LONELINESS, n.
1. Solitude; retirement; seclusion from company. He was weary of the loneliness of his habitation.
2. Love of retirement; disposition to solitude.
I see the mystery of your loneliness.
LONELY, a.
1. Solitary; retired; sequestered from company or neighbors; as a lonely situation; a lonely cell.
2. Solitary; as the lonely traveler.
3. Addicted to solitude or seclusion from company.
LONENESS, n. Solitude; seclusion.
LONESOME, a. Solitary; secluded from society.
How horrid will these lonesome seats appear!
LONESOMENESS, n. The state of being solitary; solitude.
LONG, a. [L. longus.]
1. Extended; drawn out in a line, or in the direction of length; opposed to short, and contradistinguished from broad or wide. Long is a relative term; for a thing may be long in respect to one thing, and short with respect to another. We apply long to things greatly extended, and to things which exceed the common measure. we say, a long way, a long distance, a long line, and long hair, long arms. By the latter terms, we mean hair and arms exceeding the usual length.
2. Drawn out or extended in time; as a long time; a long period of time; a long while; a long series of events; a long sickness or confinement; a long session; a long debate.
3. Extended to any certain measure expressed; as a span long; a yard long; a mile long, that is, extended to the measure of a mile, etc.
4. Dilatory; continuing for an extended time.
5. Tedious; continued to a great length.
A tale should never be too long.
6. Continued in a series to a great extent; as a long succession of princes; a long line of ancestors.
7. Continued in sound; protracted; as a long note; a long syllable.
8. Continued; lingering or longing.
Praying for him, and casting a long look that way, he saw the galley leave the pursuit.
9. Extensive; extending far in prospect or into futurity.
The perennial existence of bodies corporate and their fortunes, are things particularly suited to a man who has long views.
Long home, the grave or death. Ecclesiastes 12:5.
LONG, n. Formerly, a musical note equal to two breves. Obs.
LONG, adv.
1. To a great extent in space; as a long extended line.
2. To a great extent in time; as, they that tarry long at the wine. Proverbs 23:30.
When the trumpet soundeth long. Exodus 19:13.
So in composition we say, long-expected, long-forgot.
3. At a point of duration far distant, either prior or posterior; as not long before; not long after; long before the foundation of Rome; long after the conquest of Gaul by Julius Cesar.
4. Through the whole extent or duration of.
The God who fed me all my life long to this day. Genesis 48:15.
The bird of dawning singeth all night long.
LONG, adv.
By means of; by the fault of; owing to. Obs.
Mistress, all this evil is long of you.
LONG, v.t. To belong. [Not used.]
LONG, v.i.
1. To desire earnestly or eagerly.
I long to see you. Romans 1:11.
I have longed after thy precepts. Psalm 119:40.
I have longed for thy salvation. Psalm 119:174.
2. To have a preternatural craving appetite; as a longing woman.
3. To have an eager appetite; as, to long for fruit.
LONGANIMITY, n. [L. longanimitas; longus, long, and animus, mind.]
Forbearance; patience; disposition to endure long under offenses.
LONGBOAT, n. The largest and strongest boat belonging to a ship.
LONGER, a. [comp. of long.] More long; of greater length; as a longer course.
LONGER, adv. For a greater duration. This evil can be endured no longer.
LONGEST, a. Of the greatest extent; as the longest line.
LONGEST, adv. For the greatest continuance of time. They who live longest, are most convinced of the vanity of life.
LONGEVAL, a. [L. longus and avum.] Long lived.
LONGEVITY, n. [L. longavitas; longus, long, and avum, age.]
Length or duration of life; more generally, great length of life.
The instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious.
LONGEVOUS, a. [L. longavus, supra.] Living a long time; of great age.
LONG-HEADED, a. Having a great extent of thought.
LONGIMANOUS, a. [L. longus, long, and manus, hand.] Having long hands.
LONGIMETRY, n. [L. longus, long, and Gr. measure.]
The art or practice of measuring distances or lengths, whether accessible or inaccessible.
LONGING, ppr. Earnestly desiring; having a craving or preternatural appetite.
LONGING, n. An eager desire; a craving or preternatural appetite.
LONGINGLY, adv. With eager wishes or appetite.
LONGINQUITY, n. [L. longinquitas.] Great distance.
LONGISH, a. Somewhat long; moderately long.
LONGITUDE, n. [L. longitudo, from longus, long.]
1. Properly length; as the longitude of a room; but in this sense not now used. Appropriately, in geography,
2. The distance of any place on the globe from another place, eastward or westward; or the distance of any place from a given meridian. Boston, in Massachusetts, is situated in the 71st degree of longitude west from Greenwich. To be able to ascertain precisely the longitude of a ship at sea, is a great desideratum in navigation.
3. The longitude of a star, is its distance from the equinoctial points, or the beginning of Aries or Libra.
LONGITUDINAL, a.
1. Pertaining to longitude or length; as longitudinal distance.
2. Extending in length; running lengthwise, as distinguished from transverse or across; as the longitudinal diameter of a body. The longitudinal suture of the head runs between the coronal and lamdoidal sutures.
LONGITUDINALLY, adv. In the direction of length.
Some of the fibers of the human body are placed longitudinally, others transversely.