Forms: 1–2 léad, 3 læd, 3–4 leod(e, 4 Kentish lyad, 3–6 led(e, 4–6 leyde, 4–7 leed(e, Sc. leid(e, 5–6 ledde, (6 dial. lydde), 5–7 lead(e, 4– lead. [OE. léad str. neut. = OFris. lâd, Du. lood lead, MLG. lôd (whence Sw. and Da. lod), MHG. lôt (mod.G. lot, loth) plummet, sounding-lead, also solder; cf. ON. lauð fem., doubtfully interpreted as ‘draw-plate for wire’ (Fritzner).
The OTeut. *lauđom:-Pre-Teut. *loudhom is cogn. with Irish luaidhe (:-*loudhiā fem.).]
1. The heaviest of the base metals, of a dull pale bluish-gray color, fusible at a low temperature, and very useful from its softness and malleability. Chemical symbol Pb. Rarely pl. = kinds of lead. † To lie, be wrapt in lead: to be buried in a lead coffin. So to lay, lap in lead: see LAP v.2 3. Obs.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. Introd. (1890), 26. Swylce hit [sc. þis land] is eac berende on wecga orum ares & isernes, leades & seolfres.
c. 1205. Lay., 5692. Ofte heo letten grund-hat læd [c. 1275 leod] gliden heom an heore hæfd.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 208/272. Þe feondes welden led and bras.
c. 1300. Seyn Julian, 171. A chetel he sette ouer þe fier, and fulde it uol of lede.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 229. Þe patriark þe legate liggis in lede.
1340. Ayenb., 141. Þe asse of þe melle þet ase bleþeliche berþ bere ase huite, and lyad ase þet corn.
c. 1430. Lydg., in Turner, Dom. Archit., III. 39. Euery hous couerid was with leede.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, V. viii. 174. [He] leyd them in chestys of leed.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 101. The feyndis gaif thame hait leid to laip.
c. 1540. Pilgr. T., 24, in Thynne’s Animadv. (1865), App. i. 77. Houses of office on and other Where-on of leyd lay many a fowther.
1578. Chr. Prayers, 83. We Earles and Barons were sometime: Now wrapt in lead, are turnd to slime.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. ii. 178. What studied torments (Tyrant) hast for me?… What flaying? boyling? In Leads, or Oyles?
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Lead and all its products turn into glass by a strong fire.
1855. Cornwall, 239. The Cornish and Devon leads are very rich in silver.
1871. Roscoe, Elem. Chem., 258. Lead does not occur free in nature.
† b. After L. use, lead was sometimes called black lead (= L. plumbum nigrum) in contradistinction to white lead (plumbum album), used as a name for tin. Obs.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 13. There are two sortes of Lead, the one white, and the other black…. That other black Lead is found most in Cantabrie.
1678. R. R[ussell], Geber, II. I. II. x. 59. The same Delusion they also find in Black Lead or Saturn.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Black-lead, The common lead being the true black lead, so called by way of contradistinction from tin, otherwise called white lead.
c. With allusion to its qualities; e.g., its weight, color, want of elasticity, low value, etc., in both lit. and fig. expressions.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16454. Þai þe fine gold for-soke, and to þam to þe lede.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 11730. Þys Ananyas fyl downe dede As blak as any lede.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. x. 3623. Oure gold wes changyd in to lede.
c. 1440. York Myst., xviii. 20. Me thynke myne eyne hevye as leede.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVII. (Percy Soc.), 76. Dyane derlyng pale as any leade.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (1895), 102. They haue wrested and wriede hys [Christ’s] doctryne, and lyke a rule of leade haue applyed yt to mennys maners.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. i. 6. A heauie Summons lyes like Lead vpon me. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., III. xi. 72. Loue I am full of Lead.
1646. Jenkyn, Remora, 9. Shall our Reformation have an heel of lead?
1656. Bp. Hall, Breathings Devout Soul (1851), 200. Pull this lead out of my bosom.
1725. Young, Love Fame, II. 158. How just his grief? one carrys in his head A less proportion of the father’s lead.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., VII. viii. The ship went down like lead.
1861. J. Edmond, Children’s Church at Home, x. 157. He might have left everything the colour of lead.
d. With defining prefix, as cast-, milled-, pig-, pot-, sheet-lead, for which see the first element.
2. Red lead: a red oxide of lead obtained from litharge by exposing it to hot air, much used as a pigment; = MINIUM. White lead (or simply lead): a mixture of lead carbonate and hydrated lead oxide, much used as a pigment; = CERUSE. Blue lead: see BLUE 12 c.
c. 1450. ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 203. Tak … iij quarter of whyt led Tak a quart of oile and red led.
1658. W. Sanderson, Graphice, 54. Most excellent pure Virgin Colours are Ceruse and White leade.
1686. Phil. Trans., XVI. 27. Red-lead, a colour unknown to the Antients.
1726. Swift, Progr. Beauty, Wks. 1755, III. II. 165. White lead was sent us to repair … A lady’s face, and China ware.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., The common calx of lead, red lead.
1827. R. Nesbit, in J. M. Mitchell, Mem., iii. (1858), 80. It [the idol] was painted with red lead.
1844. Fownes, Chem., 294. Red oxide; red lead. Ibid., 295. Carbonate of lead; white lead.
3. Short for BLACK LEAD, graphite, or plumbago. Only with reference to its use as a material for pencils. Hence, a small stick of graphite for filling an ‘ever-pointed’ pencil.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVII. 402/1. Pencils are commonly marked with certain letters to denote the quality of the lead, as H for hard, B for black [etc.]…. Most [ever-pointed pencil] cases are made with a reservoir at the top, in which a supply of five or six leads may be carried.
1881. W. M. Williams, in Knowledge, No. 4. 67. A thin stick … like vermicelli, or the ‘leads’ of ever-pointed pencils.
4. The metal regarded as fashioned into some object, e.g., † a seal, † the plummet of a plumb-line, † a pipe or conduit, a leaden coffin, a bullet, the leaden part of anything.
1340. Ayenb., 150. He deþ al … to þe line and to þe reule and to þe leade and to þe leuele. Ibid., 151. Efterward he proueþ ofte his work mid lead.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 309. Men of þis world dreden more þe popis leed.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. iii. 35. Heauen keepe Lead out of mee.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. I. Eden, 58. Let not me … be like the Lead Which to some City from some Conduit-head Brings wholsome Water.
c. 1650. Balow, iv. in Laneham’s Let. (1871), Pref. 172. The iudge of heavin and hell By some predestined deadlie lead,… hath struke him dead.
1771. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 330. My passions are not to be roused by those who lie in their cold lead.
1884. Law Times Rep., LI. 161/2. The attachments to buildings were made … by a bolt screwed into the lead of the ridge.
1887. Times (weekly ed.), 23 Dec., 6/1. If you don’t stand loyal … you will get the lead.
† b. A plate of lead. Obs.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 122. Layde vpon … a thynne sclate or leed.
5. a. A large pot, cauldron or kettle; a large open vessel used in brewing and various other operations. (Originally, one made of lead, but early used without reference to the material.) Now only dial. b. dial. A leaden milk-pan.
a. a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia (1886), IX. 264. Hwer, lead, cytel, etc.
c. 1250. Death, 242, in O. E. Misc., 182. Also beoð his eȝe-puttes ase a bruþen led.
c. 1300. Havelok, 924. Y shal … make the broys in the led.
13[?]. in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LXXIX. 449/62. A lede of bras then did he bring with pik fullfilled.
1370–80. XI Pains Hell, 37, in O. E. Misc., App. iii. 224. Þer weore þei turmented in þo ledes.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. ii. 14. He putte it [the fleshhook] into the leede or into the cawdroun.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 202. His eyen stepe, and rollinge in his heed, That stemed as a forneys of a leed.
1428. Surtees Misc. (1888), 6. Yt suld hafe brynt oute his lede bothom.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 39. Caste hym to seþe with þin grete Fleysshe, in lede oþer in Cauderoun.
1504. Bury Wills (Camden), 101. I will that they shall haue all brewyng ledys.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 5103. Sum, brynt; sum, soddin in to leiddis.
1575. Gamm. Gurton, IV. ii. Haue you not … behind your furnace or leade, A hole where a crafty knaue may crepe in for neade?
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 137. Put all these into a lead or chalderon.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Leād, a vat for dyeing.
b. 1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., III. 129. To improve Cream. To do this, take a Pint or more of Stroakings,… and divide it into several Pans, or Leads, or Kivers.
1813. Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 232. Dairy utensils, consisting of lends, kettles, pans … &c.
1895. ‘Rosemary,’ Under the Chilterns, ii. 69. Rose always scoured the great ‘leads’ so well with wisps of hay and sand, and left no half-cleaned corners to taint the milk.
6. A ‘bob’ or lump of lead suspended by a string to ascertain the depth of water; a sounding-lead. Phrases, To cast, heave the lead. To arm the lead: to fill the hollow in the lead with tallow in order to discover the nature of the bottom by the substances adhering (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867 s.v. Arm). † Also, the leaden sinker of a net.
c. 1440. York Myst., ix. 199. I sall caste leede and loke þe space.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 1440. Cast a led, & In vs gyde.
1597. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 1187. Their leid ay … Micht warn them.
1613. J. Dennys, Secrets of Angling, I. xix. Then on that Linke hang Leads of euen waight.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 29. Heaue the lead.
1628. Digby, Voy. Medit. (1868), 13. I sent my shalloppes out with leades to sound the depth.
1657. Trapp, Comm. Ps. xxv. 1. The best heart is lumpish, and naturally beareth downward, as the poise of a clock, as the lead of a net.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), M m 4. Sounding with the hand-lead … is called heaving the lead by seamen.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxx. A man … lowering down the lead, sounded in seven fathoms. Ibid. (1840), Poor Jack, xxxv. We ran through the Swin by the lead.
1860. Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 248. The lead used … was the ordinary hand-lead of 9 lbs. instead of the deep sea-lead of 28 to 32 lbs.
7. pl. a. The sheets or strips of lead used to cover a roof; often collect. for a lead flat, a lead roof, † occas. construed as sing. b. The lead frames of the panes in lattice or stained glass windows.
a. 1578–9. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 538. Mending the leddes over the librarie chambers.
1588. Bp. Andrewes, Serm. Spittle (1641), 5. He looketh downe on his brethren, as if he stood on the top of a Leads.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Building (Arb.), 550. A Goodly Leads upon the Top, railed with Statua’s interposed.
a. 1635. Corbet, Iter Bor. (1647), 133. Gardens cover howses there like leades.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 78. Leads or Terrasses from whence the Soldiers may be molested with stones or darts.
1760. C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. 238. A cat … whom she used to meet in the evenings, upon the leads of the house.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiii. Trumbull … clambered out upon the leads.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, II. VII. vi. 42. A blare of trumpets from the leads told every one … that [etc.].
b. 1705. Hearne, Collect., 8 Nov. (O. H. S.), I. 68. After the Examination of the Books, & a slight view of the Leads.
1885. F. Miller, Glass Painting, vii. 69. It gives the effect of weakness to see large pieces of glass leaded with narrow leads.
8. Printing. A thin strip of type-metal or brass, less than type-high, of varying thickness and length, used in type-composition to separate lines; before 1800 known as space-line.
1808. Stower, Printer’s Gram., 515. Leads, 4 to a pica, per pound, 1s. 10d.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 125. All measures are made to pica m’s, and all leads are cast to m’s of the above body.
1848. Craig, Leads or space lines.
1889. Harper’s Mag., April, 819/1. There is a newspaper in another city which declines this method…. It avoids double leads, capitals, pictures, and all forms of typographical hysteria.
9. In the knitting-machine: The lead or tin socket holding the shanks of one or more needles.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 650. In order to fit the needles for the frame, they are now cast into the tin sockets, or leads as they are called by the workmen.
II. attrib. and Comb.
10. simple attrib. passing into adj. Made (wholly or partly) of lead, consisting of lead.
1379. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 103. Et de j Ledepan.
1422. Surtees Misc. (Surtees), 16. Yat the lede pype and the shelfs be the wyfe’s of Symond of Stele.
1811. Scott, Biog. Notices, Prose Wks. (1870), IV. 273. The copies had hung on the bookseller’s hands as heavy as a pile of lead bullets.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 362. Lead pipes are sometimes cast in an iron mould, made in two halves.
1868. Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions of War, App. 286. These [Gatling] guns discharge half-pound solid lead-balls.
11. General comb.: a. attributive, as lead-colo(u)r, -glaze, -grain, † -groove, -mine, -miner, -ore, -slag, -vein.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 909. Poysoned Honey … staines the honey-comb with a Kinde of *Lead-colour.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 416. Of the Compound Colours, Lead colour is of indigo and white.
1842. Parnell, Chem. Anal. (1845), 276. A porcelain bason having a *lead glaze.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 207. *Lead-Grains so pure as nearly to approach the Fineness of Virgin Lead.
c. 1750. J. Nelson, Jrnl. (1836), 84. A great company of men that worked in the *lead-groves.
1653. Manlove (title), The Liberties and Cvstomes of the *Lead-Mines.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., I. iii. heading, Wandring … among cover’d Lead-mines that he knew not of.
1761. Wesley, Jrnl., 9 June. Most of the men are *lead-miners.
1653. Manlove, Lead-Mines, 4. If any … there *Lead-oar may get.
1661–9. Boyle, Physiol. Ess., II. i. 52. So unlike common Lead-Oar, that the workmen upon that account are pleased to call it Steel-Oar.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 108. More adapted for smelting some lead-ores than the others.
1864. Watts, Dict. Chem., II. 523. Analyses of *Lead-slags from Blast Furnace.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 159. Out of a *Lead-Vein … in Wales.
1874. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 313. Lead-veins, rich in silver.
b. objective, as lead-burner, -carving, -smelting (also attrib.).
1894. Daily News, 6 Sept., 6/7. Mark Warman, *lead burner, brother of the deceased, said [etc.].
1748. Lady Luxborough, Lett. to Shenstone, Easter Sunday, The present fashion at London, is all *lead-carving.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, p. viii. *Lead-smelting blast-furnaces. Ibid., 296. Lead-smelting ores can be produced.
c. instrumental, as lead-lapped, -lined, -ruled, -sheathed adjs.
1830. Scott, Doom Devorgoil, I. i. The dry bones of *lead-lapp’d ancestors.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 120. Cartridges … packed in *Lead-lined Barrels and Cases.
1895. E. A. Parkes, Health, 25. Lead-lined cisterns are, on the whole, better avoided.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xxii. 8. The parchment-case *Lead-ruled.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 8. *Lead-sheathed Ships.
d. parasynthetic, as lead-colo(u)red, -lidded adjs. e. similative, esp. with adjs. of color, as lead-blue, -brown, -grey; lead-like adj. and adv.
1882–4. Yarrell’s Brit. Birds (ed. 4), III. 505. Legs and toes pale blue, becoming *lead-blue a few days after death.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 90. A slope of smooth and *lead-brown slime.
1611. Cotgr., Plombasse,… *lead coloured.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 378. Spanish brown, or lead coloured roofs.
1837. Gosse, in Life (1890), 107. The insects were … of a *lead-grey colour.
1856. Boker, Calaynos, III. ii. Robs the *lead-lidded god of many an hour.
1842. Tennyson, St. Sim. Styl., 25. Those *lead-like tons of sin.
1816. Byron, Siege Cor., xiii. The mail weighed lead-like on his breast.
12. Special combs.: lead-arming, the tallow used for ‘arming’ a lead (see 6); lead-ash, -ashes, litharge; lead-back (U.S.), the American dunlin (Cent. Dict.); lead-bath, (a) the mass of melted lead in a lead-furnace; (b) the molten lead with which gold and silver ores are melted before cupellation; lead-comb, a comb made of lead, used for the purpose of darkening the hair; † lead-dust (see quot.); lead-eater dial. (see quot. 1855); † lead foam, the oxide skimmed from the surface of molten lead; lead-foot a. = leaden-footed; lead glance [= Du. loodglans], galena; † lead-house, ? a plumber’s shop; † lead-lath, ? a batten for laying a leaden roof upon; lead-light, a window in which small panes are fixed in leaden cames, also attrib.; lead-line, (a) a sounding-lead or plumb-line; (b) a line loaded with leaden weights, running along the bottom of a net; (c) a bluish grey line along the gums at their junction with the teeth, indicating lead-poisoning; † lead-lustre, lead oxide used as a glaze; † lead-mall, ? a leaden mallet or a mallet for beating lead; lead-man, (a) a dealer in lead; (b) a lead-miner; lead-marcasite, ? zinc blende (see quot.); lead-mill, (a) an establishment for producing milled or sheet lead; (b) (see quot. 1864); lead-nail (mostly pl.), a nail used to fasten a sheet of lead on a roof; lead-ochre = MASSICOT; lead-paper, a test-paper treated with a preparation of lead; † lead-pen ? a metallic pencil for ruling lines; lead-pencil, a pencil of graphite, often enclosed in cedar or other wood; lead-plant (U.S.), a shrub (Amorpha canescens) found in the west of the Mississippi valley, and believed to indicate the presence of lead ore; lead-plaster = DIACHYLON; lead-poisoning, poisoning (acute or chronic) by the introduction of lead into the system; lead-pot, a pot or crucible for melting lead; † lead-pound, a measure of weight; lead-reeve (see quot.); lead-sinker (see quot. 1875); lead-soap (see quot.); lead-spar = ANGLESITE or CERUSSITE; lead-sugar (see quot.); lead-tree, (a) Bot., a West Indian name for the tropical leguminous tree, Leucæna Glauca; (b) a crystalline deposit of metallic lead or zinc that has been placed in a solution of acetate of lead; lead-vitriol = ANGLESITE; † lead-walling Salt-making (see quot.); lead-wash = lead-water; lead-water (= G. bleiwasser), dilute solution of acetate of lead (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1888); lead-work, plumber’s work and material; work in lead esp. glaziers’ work; lead-works pl., an establishment for smelting lead-ore; lead-wort, a herbaceous plant of southern Europe (Plumbago Europæa); also, any plant of the genus Plumbago or the order Plumbagineæ.
1882. Ogilvie, *Lead ash, the slag of lead.
1523–4. in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 67. For *lede asches iijd.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 193. One of lead ashes.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 754. The smelter throws a shovelful of small coal or coke cinder upon the *lead bath.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Lead-bath.
1715. Garth, Claremont, 96. Nor yet *lead-comb was on the toilet plac’d.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., *Lead Dust, is a preparation used by the potters; made by throwing charcoal dust into melted lead, and stirring them a long time together.
1788–9. *Lead-eater [see CAOUTCHOUC 1].
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Lead-eater, Indian-rubber, for removing pencil marks on paper.
1552. Huloet, *Leade fome or spume, molybditis.
1896. Kath. Tynan, Lover’s Breast-Knot, 15. *Lead-foot, slow, Did the day round to evening-flame?
1810. J. T., in Risdon’s Surv. Devon, p. xv. Lead is found in the state of galena or *lead glance.
1843. Portlock, Geol., 181. Lead glance is also occasionally, but not frequently met with, in small masses.
1384–5. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 390. In 3 ladys calcis empt. pro *ledyhous, 10d.
1424. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 152. Item Ricardo Horner circa ledhows … 7s. 9d.
1466. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), III. 93. The said Roofe shal haue sufficient *leedlathis of herty ooke sufficiently dried.
1844. Catholic Weekly Instructor, 103. Fixing a small copper gutter at the bottom of each *lead-light.
1895. Jrnl. R. Inst. Brit. Archit., 14 March, 350. All lead-light windows should have iron casements.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 51. *Leede lynes … j.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xx. (1848), 248. Deeper than ever leadline went.
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 100. The tobacconist had a ‘lead line’ on the gums.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 39. *Lede malles feble … xiiij.
1497. in Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. (1877), I. 350. Item, to the *lede man, making ledin pellokkis.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Riches (Arb.), 235. A Great Colliar, A Great Corne Master, a Great Lead-man.
1633. B. Jonson, Love’s Welc. Welbeck, Such a light and metall’d Dance Saw you never yet in France, And by Lead-men, for the nonce, That turne round like grindle-stones.
1889. Times, 28 Nov., 5/6. Relaying a whole sheet of lead for a single crack, which is doubtless delightful to the leadmen.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 183. A *Lead-Marcasite … much like the Potters Lead-Ore … The Miners call this Mock-Ore, Mock-Lead, Wild-Lead, and Blinde.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 109. Chatham has a monopoly of the dockyard lead manufacture. During the year the *lead-mill turned out 21,852 cwt. 1 qr. 21 lb.
1864. Craig, Suppl., Lead-mill, a circular plate of lead used by the lapidary for grinding or roughing.
1354. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 92. In ccc *lednayle emp. 12d.
1476–7. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 95. Sol. pro iiije ledenale … 12d. Ibid. (1536–7), (Surtees), 698. 100 leydnall’, 5d.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Leād-nails.
1899. Cagney, trans. Jaksch’s Clin. Diagn., v. (ed. 4), 159. The brown or black stain upon the *lead-paper will again show the presence of hydrochloric acid.
1682. Wilding, in Collect. (O. H. S.), I. 255. For Paper, Inkhorne, and *Lead pen … 00 01 05.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxv. 203. He with a White Lead Pen … drew a … Number of … Points.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. iii. 144/2. Black and red *Lead Pencils.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4044/1. A Letter … written on Horseback with a Lead-Pencil.
1863. Emerson, Misc. Papers, Thoreau, Wks. (Bohn), III. 324. A manufacturer of lead-pencils.
1864. Webster, *Lead-plant.
1865. *Lead-plaster [see lead-soap].
1878. Bristowe, Theory & Pract. Med., 617. Chronic *lead-poisoning.
13[?]. Measures of Weight, in Rel. Ant., I. 70. Sex waxpunde makiet .j. *leedpound.
1687. Mining Laws, in J. Collinson, Hist. Somerset, I. 117. Any miner who finds himself aggrieved complains to an officer called the *Led reeve.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 242. The improvement (on the stocking-frame) … consisted in applying the *lead-sinkers, which are still in use.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Lead-Sinker (Knitting-machine), one of the devices which alternate with the jack-sinkers in the depression of the loops between the needles.
1865. Watts, Dict. Chem., III. 564. *Lead-soaps, lead-salts of the fat-acids. Common lead-plaster is a preparation of this kind.
1821. R. Jameson, Man. Min., 85. Accompanied with galena or lead-glance, and *lead-spars.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 122. The oxygen contained in the atmosphere is imparted to bad brass, and produces what is called *lead-sugar … which is eagerly sought and consumed by mice.
1844. Fownes, Chem., 199. The common … experiment of the *lead-tree.
1864. Grisebach, Flora W. Indian Isl., 785. Lead-tree, Leucæna glauca.
1674. Ray, Collect. Words, Making Salt, 142. A *Lead-walling is the Brine of twenty-four hours boiling for one house.
1876. Bristowe, Theory & Pract. Med. (1878), 330. The local inflammation may be allayed to some extent by the use of *lead-wash.
1875. Dental Cosmos, XVII. 510. Keep the gum covered with a pellet of cotton saturated with *lead-water and laudanum.
1641. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 95. *Leadworke in ye East Range.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 638. Lead-work is used in inferior offices.
1859. Gwilt, Encycl. Archit. (ed. 4), 586. Glazing … may be classed under the heads of sashwork, leadwork, and fretwork.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 7. The Lord Derwentwater’s *Lead-Works near Haden-Bridge in Northumberland.
1897. Daily News, 25 Dec., 5/7. A lad employed at a leadworks.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., *Lead-wort, a kind of herb.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot. (ed. 14), 104 c, Plumbaginaceæ—Leadworts.
1852. Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 82. The dentellaria, or leadwort.
b. In names of chemical compounds, as lead carbonate, chloride, iodide, salts, etc.
1873. Fownes’ Chem. (ed. 11), 450. Lead Chloride … separates as a heavy white crystalline precipitate. Ibid. Lead Iodide … dissolves in boiling water. Ibid., 451. Lead Carbonate … is sometimes found … crystallised in long white needles, accompanying other metallic ores. Ibid. Lead Nitrate.
c. In the names of diseases caused by the presence of lead in the system, as lead-colic, -distemper, -encephalopathy, -palsy, -paralysis, for which see also the second member in each.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scotl. in 1772, 114. The miners and smelters are subject here … to the lead distemper which brings on palsies.
1866. W. H. O. Sankey, Lect. Ment. Dis., viii. 162. Lead palsy … is accompanied with obstinate constipation or lead colic, and the gums are marked with a peculiar blue line.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 967. Many of the miners … have died from lead encephalopathy.
