lead1
/
liːd/
v.
(past and past part. led)
- cause (a person or animal) to go with one by drawing them along.
▸show (someone) the way to a destination by preceding or accompanying them.
▸
(lead someone on)
deceive someone into believing that one is attracted to them.
-
(usu. lead to)
be a route or means of access to a particular place.
▸culminate or result in.
▸
(lead someone to/to do something)
be someone's reason or motive for.
▸
(lead up to)
precede or provide an introduction to.
▸
(often lead off with)
begin a report or text with a particular item.
- be in charge or command of.
- have the advantage in a race or game.
▸be superior to (a competitor).
- have or experience (a particular way of life).
-
(lead with)
Boxing make an attack with (a particular punch or fist).
- (in card games) play (the first card) in a trick or round of play.
n.
- the initiative in an action:
Britain should be taking the environmental lead.
-
(the lead)
a position of advantage in a contest; first place.
▸an amount by which a competitor is ahead of the others.
- the chief part in a play or film.
▸
[
as modifier]
playing the chief part in a musical group:
the lead singer.
▸
[
as modifier]
denoting the principal item in a report or text:
the lead article.
- a clue to be followed in the resolution of a problem.
- Brit. a strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog.
- Brit. a wire conveying electric current from a source to an appliance, or connecting two points of a circuit together.
- the distance advanced by a screw in one turn.
- (in card games) an act or right of playing first in a trick or round of play.
- an artificial watercourse leading to a mill.
▸a channel of water in an ice field.
Phrase
- lead someone astray
cause someone to act or think foolishly or wrongly. - lead someone up
(or down)
the garden path
informal give someone misleading clues or signals. - lead with one's chin
informal - (of a boxer) leave one's chin unprotected.
- behave or speak incautiously.
Etymology
OE lædan, of Gmc origin; rel. to load and lode.
lead2
/
lɛd/
n.
- a heavy bluish-grey soft ductile metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82.
(Symbol: Pb)
- graphite used as the part of a pencil that makes a mark.
- Printing a blank space between lines of print (originally created by a metal strip).
- Nautical a lump of lead suspended on a line to determine the depth of water.
-
(leads)
Brit. sheets or strips of lead covering a roof.
-
(leads)
lead frames holding the glass of a lattice or stained-glass window.
Phrase
- go down
(or N. Amer. over)
like a lead balloon
informal (of a speech, proposal, or joke) be poorly received.
Etymology
OE lēad, of W. Gmc origin.