LIVELY. To lift lightly to the sea; as a boat, &c.
LIVER-FACED. Mean and cowardly, independent of complexion.
LIVERY-ARROW. A missile formerly supplied to our ships of war.
LIVE-SHELL. One filled with its charge of powder or other combustible. It is also called a loaded shell.
LIVID SKY. That blackish red and blue which pervade the sky, previous to an easterly gale, at sea:—
"Deep midnight now involves the livid skies
Where eastern breezes, yet enervate, rise."—Falconer.
LIZARD. A piece of rope, sometimes with two legs, and one or more iron thimbles spliced into it. It is used for various purposes; one is often made fast to the topsail-tye, for the buntlines to reeve through, to confine them to the centre of the yard. A lizard with a tail and thimble is used as a fair lead, to lead out where the lift runs in a line with the object. The lower boom topping-lift is thus helped by carrying the lizard out to the fore-brace block. In yards sent aloft ready for crossing, the lizard confines the yard rope until the order is given, "Sway across," when, letting the lizard run, all cross simultaneously.
LIZIERE. In fortification, a word sometimes used for [berm] (which see). A narrow bank of earth supporting the parapet when deformed by fire.
LLANOS [Sp. plains]. Immense plains in S. America, with alternate arid patches and verdure.
LLOYD'S. An establishment which, from a subscription coffee-house, has grown to a society which has transacted the bulk of the British insurance business regularly since 1601; and even before that period assurers had met there "time out of mind." A register is kept of every ship, whether foreign or English, with the place where it was built, the materials used in its construction, its age, state of repair, and general character.