Lupus Street. This keeps alive the name of Henry Lupus, first Earl of Chester, from whom the Grosvenors, the ground landlords, are descended.
Lurid Waistcoat Banquet. The latest style of “Freak Dinner” in America, each guest disporting himself in a waistcoat of startling hue and design.
Lutherans. After Martin Luther, the German Reformer.
Luxembourg. This celebrated palace of the French capital stands on the site of that purchased and enlarged in 1583 by the Duke of d’Epinay, Luxembourg. The title of the Dukes of Luxembourg is very ancient, having been derived from a beautiful chateau called Luici burgum, which was acquired by Siegfried, Count of Ardennes, in 963.
Lyceum Theatre. Opened in 1834 as the English Opera House. This was originally a lyceum or academical establishment connected with the Society of Arts. The word Lyceum was correctly applied in this case from the academy formed by Aristotle in the temple of Apollo Lyceus, near the River Illissus.
Lych-Gate. A large gateway at the entrance to the churchyard where the coffin can be set down while the mourners await the arrival of the clergyman to lead the funeral service. The word comes from the Gothic leik, and German leiche, a corpse.
Lyddite. So called because experiments with this explosive were first made at Lydd in Kent.
Lying around Loose. An Americanism for being out of a situation, lounging about the town.
Lyme Regis. This little Dorsetshire seaport on the River Lym was honoured with a royal charter and the title of Regis because it furnished Edward III. with three ships to aid in the siege of Calais in 1346.
Lynch Law. The summary justice meted out to public offenders in the western states of North America. This term was derived from James Lynch, a farmer of Piedmont on the western frontier of Virginia. There being no Court of Law for many miles around he was always appealed to in cases requiring a legal decision, and his judgments were so sound and impartial that the people gave him the name of Judge Lynch. The death sentence was by hanging at the nearest tree. To “lynch a man,” however, in the modern sense is to dispense with legal formalities altogether.