Lake School of Poets. A term applied by The Edinburgh Review to the imitators of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, who communed with Nature in the Lake District of Cumberland and Westmoreland.
Lake Superior. The uppermost and principal of the five great lakes of North America.
Lake Winnipeg. See “[Winnipeg].”
La Marseillaise. See “[Marseillaise].”
Lambeth. A corruption of “Lamhithe,” the Anglo-Saxon for mud haven, or a muddy landing-place.
Lambeth Palace. The historic residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury.
Lamb’s Conduit Street. After William Lambe, a wealthy clothworker, who at his own cost built “a faire conduit and standard” in the fields here off Holborn in 1577.
Lamb’s Wool. A rural beverage of roasted apple juice and spiced ale. It received its name from the Saxon La Mæs Ubhal, or “Feast of the Apple Gathering.” From lammas ool its further corruption was easy.
Lame Duck. The name given to a member of the Stock Exchange who cannot meet his liabilities on settling day. Instead of walking erect, like a man of strict integrity, he ducks his head, and waddles off, well knowing that he has been black-boarded and struck off the list of members.
Lammas Day. The ancient name for the first of August, when every parishioner brought to church a loaf made of new wheat. The name expresses the Anglo-Saxon for “loaf mass,” and the bread was a gift of first-fruits to the clergy. Its modern equivalent is the “Harvest Festival.”