LEAD

I. verb (led; ~ing) Etymology: Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan; akin to Old High German leiten to ~, Old English līthan to go Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. to guide on a way especially by going in advance, to direct on a course or in a direction, to serve as a channel for , to go through ; live , 3. a. to direct the operations, activity, or performance of , to have charge of , to suggest to (a witness) the answer desired by asking ~ing questions, b. to go at the head of , to be first in or among , to have a margin over , to bring to some conclusion or condition , to begin play with , 6. to aim in front of (a moving object) , to pass a ball or puck just in front of (a moving teammate), intransitive verb 1. to guide someone or something along a way, to lie, run, or open in a specified place or direction , to guide a dance partner through the steps of a dance, 2. to be first, b. begin , open , to play the first card of a trick, round, or game, to tend toward or have a result , to direct the first of a series of blows at an opponent in boxing, see: guide II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a. ~ership , example , precedent , b. position at the front ; vanguard , initiative , the act or privilege of ~ing in cards, a margin or measure of advantage or superiority or position in advance, one that ~s: as, lode 2, a channel of water especially through a field of ice, indication , clue , a principal role in a dramatic production, leash 1, f. an introductory section of a news story, a news story of chief importance, an insulated electrical conductor connected to an electrical device, the course of a rope from end to end, the amount of axial advance of a point accompanying a complete turn of a thread (as of a screw or worm), a position taken by a base runner off a base toward the next, the first punch of a series or an exchange of punches in boxing, ~less adjective III. adjective Date: 1828 acting or serving as a ~ or ~er , IV. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English leed, from Old English lēad; akin to Middle High German lōt ~ Date: before 12th century a bluish-white soft malleable ductile plastic but inelastic heavy metallic element found mostly in combination and used especially in pipes, cable sheaths, batteries, solder, and shields against radioactivity, 2. a plummet for sounding at sea, a usually flat ~ roof, ~ framing for panes in windows, a thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing, 3. a thin stick of marking substance (as graphite) in or for a pencil, white ~ , bullets, projectiles, tetraethyl ~ , ~less adjective V. transitive verb Date: 14th century to cover, line, or weight with ~, to fix (window glass) in position with ~s, to put space between the lines of (typeset matter), to treat or mix with ~ or a ~ compound