Defn: Loose. [Obs.] Chaucer.
LAUTVERSCHIEBUNG Laut"ver*schie`bung, n.; pl. -schiebungen. [G.; laut sound + verschiebung shifting.] (Philol.) (a) The regular changes which the primitive Indo-European stops, or mute consonants, underwent in the Teutonic languages, probably as early as the 3d century b. c. , often called the first Lautverschiebung, sound shifting, or consonant shifting. (b) A somewhat similar set of changes taking place in the High German dialects (less fully in modern literary German) from the 6th to the 8th century, known as the second Lautverschiebung, the result of which form the striking differences between High German and The Low German Languages. The statement of these changes is commonly regarded as forming part of Grimm's law, because included in it as originally framed.
LAVA La"va, n. Etym: [It. lava lava, orig. in Naples, a torrent of rain overflowing the streets, fr. It. & L. lavare to wash. See Lave.]
Defn: The melted rock ejected by a volcano from its top or fissured sides. It flows out in streams sometimes miles in length. It also issues from fissures in the earth's surface, and forms beds covering many square miles, as in the Northwestern United States.
Note: Lavas are classed, according to their structure, as scoriaceous or cellular, glassy, stony, etc., and according to the material of which they consist, as doleritic, trachytic, etc. Lava millstone, a hard and coarse basaltic millstone from the neighborhood of the Rhine. — Lava ware, a kind of cheap pottery made of iron slag cast into tiles, urns, table tops, etc., resembling lava in appearance.
LA VALLIERE; LAVALLIERE
La val`liere", or La`val`liere", n.
Defn: A neck ornament consisting of a chain and single pendant, or drop.
LAVARET
Lav"a*ret, n. Etym: [F.] (Zoöl.)
Defn: A European whitefish (Coregonus laveretus), found in the mountain lakes of Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland.
LAVATIC
La*vat"ic, a.