libel, slander: These are not synonymous terms. Libel differs from slander in that the latter is spoken whereas the former is written and published.
lick: An inelegant term used colloquially as a synonym for “effort”; as, “he put in his best licks.” Say, rather, “He put forth his best efforts.”
lid: A slang term for cover, hat, etc., used especially in the phrases keeping the lid down, sitting on the lid, political colloquialisms for closing up places of business, as pool-rooms, saloons, etc., or keeping a political situation in control.
lie. Compare [LAY].
lightening, lightning: The spelling of these words is sometimes confused. Lightening is to relieve “of weight”; as, “to lighten a burden”; lightning is a sudden flash of light due to pressure caused by atmospheric electricity. The shorter word designates the flash of light.
like, in the adverbial sense of “in the manner of,” as, “He speaks like a philosopher,” is correctly used, but the tendency to treat this word as a conjunction (which it is not) in substitution for as is altogether wrong. Do not say “Do like I do”; say, rather, “Do as I do.” It is also a colloquialism, not sanctioned by good usage, to give the word the signification of as if, as “I felt like my final hour had come”; and the use of the word as synonymous for somewhat is a vulgarism. Say “He breathed somewhat heavily”—not “heavy like.” When like is followed by an objective case, as “Be brave like him,” the preposition unto must be supplied by ellipsis. For this reason as for the fact that like here has the force of a conjunction, introducing the implied phrase “he is brave,” it is better to say “Be brave as he is.”
like, love: Discriminate carefully between these words, which are often erroneously used interchangeably. A woman may love her children and like fruit, but not like her children and love fruit.
likewise. Compare [ALSO].
limb, leg: There exists an affected or prudish use of the word limb instead of leg, when the leg is meant, which can not be too severely censured. Such squeamishness is absurd.
limit, the: A vulgarism designating the extreme of any condition or situation: used indiscriminately of persons or conditions.