[LEAD sb.2] a. A mill-lead. b. An open channel through an ice-field.
1641. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 371/2. Lie watter-leidis &c.
1802. G. V. Sampson, Statist. Surv. Londonderry, 341. On the return, the [salmon] fry are killed in great numbers, in passing through the water-leads, by the mill-wheels of the bleach-greens.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xvii. (1856), 130. But to seaward, open water-leads gladden us in every direction.
