| leach | v. | to lose soluble components through percolation | ||
| league | n. | unit of distance of varying measure in different places or times, usu. calculated as roughly 3 miles | ||
| leaguer | n. | siege; one who besieges | ||
| leat | n. | open watercourse dug to provide water for mill or mine, etc. | ||
| leather gun | n. | early light cannon of the 1640s & 1650s, where toughened leather wrappings were placed around the more portable smaller barrel in an attempt to give it stability | ||
| leery | adj. | suspicious, wary | ||
| left-footed | adj. | Catholic, esp. an Irish Catholic, from supposed use of poor Irishmen of single-sided spades for digging | slang | |
| legendry | n. | legends in a collective sense, mythologies | ||
| legicentric | adj. | organized around and dedicated to the supremacy of statutes and the law | ||
| leitmotif | n. | (music) theme associated with particular person, idea, or situation | ||
| leman | n. | lover; mistress | archaic | |
| lemniscus | n. | bundle of white nerve fibers in brainstem | ||
| lenify | v. | to soothe; to soften | ||
| lenity | n. | mildness, mercifulness; instance of mercifulness or gentleness | ||
| leper’s squint | n. | opening through external wall of church through which lepers could view religious services | ||
| lèse-majesté | n. | crime against dignity of the sovereign or the state, treason; offense against established order | ||
| leukophorytocracy | n. | rule or government by white trash | ||
| leveret | n. | young hare; pet, mistress | ||
| levin | n. | lightning, bright flash of light | archaic | |
| lex talionis | n. | legal principle that the punishment should be commensurate to the crime | Latin | |
| lexeme | n. | basic lexical unit, which may appear in actual language in different forms due to inflection, tense, number, etc. | ||
| liberty bodice | n. | sleeveless bodice originally created as a less constrictive alternative to corsets | ||
| libration | n. | oscillatory motion, as of a scale at point of balance or the apparent movement of a heavenly body | ||
| lich gate | n. | small roofed gate to a churchyard | ||
| lickerish | adj. | overfond of eating, greedy; lecherous, wanton | ||
| lido | n. | public outdoor swimming pool; beach allocated for swimmers | British | |
| ligate | v. | to tie up, to bind with a ligature | ||
| ligyrophobia | n. | fear of loud noises | ||
| limber | n. | second pair of wheels on an axle behind which a field gun or caisson is hauled | ||
| limen | n. | threshold of perception or response | ||
| limn | v. | to draw, to depict; to describe, to delineate | ||
| limonite | n. | hydrous iron oxide | ||
| limpid | adj. | clear | ||
| linctus | n. | syrupy medicine | ||
| lineament | n. | line, design; (often pl.) feature of a face or body; (pl.) distinctive features | ||
| ling | n. | long slender fish used for food, usu. either salted or dried | ||
| lingua geral | n. | either of two trade languages used in Brazil, based upon that of the aboriginal Tupi people | ||
| linn | n. | waterfall; pool beneath waterfall | Scots | |
| linnet | n. | European songbird of the finch family | ||
| lintel | n. | horizontal beam across the top of a door or window | ||
| lipophilic | adj. | having strong affinity for fats or lipids | ||
| liripipe | n. | hood with a long tail, worn in medieval Europe, especially in academe | ||
| list | v. | to be pleasing to | ||
| lithe | adj. | flexible, pliant, supple; gentle, meek | ||
| lither | adj. | wicked, bad; weakened, impotent | obsolete | |
| lithia water | n. | mineral water containing lithium salts | ||
| lithotomy | n. | removal of stone by surgery from organ or vessel | ||
| litotes | n. | figure in which positive is expressed by negating the contrary; understatement | rhetoric | |
| little-go | n. | preliminary examination during university courses to determine fitness to continue studies | British | |
| littoral | adj. | of or relating to the shore or the shoreline region |
