leatica, a red muscatel wine made in Tuscany. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 3 (1 Vintner). Ital. liatico (Florio); aleatico, an exquisite grape, a wine made therefrom (Fanfani). See NED. (s.v. Liatico).
leave, to levy, raise an army. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 31. F. lever, ‘to raise, to levy’ (Cotgr.).
leavy, leafy, full of foliage. Much Ado, ii. 3. 75; Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 316, 512.
leden, ledden, language. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 19; Colin Clout, 744; Drayton, Pol. xii. 303. ME. leden (Chaucer, C. T. F. 435); OE. leden (lyden), language, prop. the Latin language, L. Latinus; cp. O. Prov. latin, ‘langage’ (Levy), OF. latin, language, also, the warbling of birds (Bartsch, 581. 34); Ital. latino, language (Dante).
ledger, resident; esp. in capacity of ambassador; ‘His Ambassadour that was ledger at Rome’, Daus, tr. Sleidane, 113 (NED.); lieger, Webster, White Devil (Francisco), ed. Dyce, 18; legier, resting in a place, Fairfax, Tasso, i. 70. 15; leiger, Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iv. 2 (Littleworth). See [lieger].
Lee. ‘His corps was carried downe along the Lee’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 19; ‘I looked . . . adowne the Lee’, Ruines of Time (Globe ed. 496). Probably the reference is to the name of a river.
leefky, for leefkyn, a bodice. Leefekyes, pl., Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 116). Du. lijfken: ‘een vrouwen Lijfken, A womans Bodies [bodice]’ (Hexham); dimin. of lijf, a body.
leefsom, pleasant. Surrey, Complaint of absence, 23, in Tottel’s Misc., p. 19. Cp. Scottish leesome, pleasant, loveable (EDD.). OE. lēofsum (Juliana, 17).
leek, like. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); riming with cheek.
leer, complexion. As You Like It, iv. 1. 67; Titus, iv. 2. 119; spelt laire, Drayton, Harmony Church, Song Sol., ch. i, l. 12; lere, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 1034; El. Rummyng, 12; leyre, Magnyfycence, 1573. For the sense, see EDD. (s.v. Leer, sb.3 3, and Lire, sb.3). OE. hlēor, face, countenance. See [leare].