Forms: 2–4 luft, 3 leoft, 3–5 lift(e, 4–5 lyft(e, 4–6 lefte, 4– left. [ME. left, lift:—OE. left (Kentish), lyft, occurring only in the gloss ‘inanis, left’ (Mone Q. & F. I. 443), and in the comb. lyft-ádl paralysis; the primary sense ‘weak, worthless’ is represented also in East Fris. luf, Du. dial. loof, and the derived sense ‘left’ (hand) in MDu., LG. luchter, lucht, luft, North Fris. leeft, leefter.
Cf. further (though connection is very doubtful) OE. léf weak, léfung paralysis, ʓeléfed weak, old, OFris., OS. léf weak, OS. giléƀod lamed.]
A. adj.
1. The distinctive epithet of the hand which is normally the weaker of the two (for examples see LEFT HAND), and of the other parts on the same side of the human body (occas. of their clothing, as in left boot, glove, sleeve); hence also of what pertains to the corresponding side of any other body or object. Opposed to right.
c. 1205. Lay., 27693. [He] smat Leir þene eorl sære a þa lift side þurh ut þa heorte.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 981. Hit watz lusty lothes wyf þat [looked] ouer her lyfte schulder.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 818. Þe lefte eghe of hym þan semes les And narower þan þe right eghe es.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 75. Let nat by lyft half, oure lord techeþ, Ywite what þow delest with þy ryht syde.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 530. Thei baren scrowis in her forehedis and in her lift arme.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 27. Orions left foote.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 465. Who stooping op’nd my left side, and took From thence a Rib.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 127, ¶ 1. With his Hat under his Left Arm.
1833. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 13. Place the right heel against the hollow of the left foot.
1895. Punch, CVIII. 49/1. The peculiar striping of his [a tiger’s] left shoulder.
b. Left side, † half (also LEFT HAND), used (with a preceding prep.) for: The position or direction (relative to a person) to which the left hand points.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 141. Þer stod a richt halue and a luft alse an castel wal.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 67. He setteð þe synfulle on his lifthalf.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 698. Alle þe iles of Anglesay on lyft half he haldez.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 7. ‘Loke on þe lufthond,’ quod heo … I lokede on þe luft half as þe ladi me tauhte.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), iv. 31. On the lift syde of the hille Carmelyn is a towne.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 16. She shold sitte on the lift side of the kyng.
2. † a. In various obsolete proverbial expressions, e.g., to see with the left eye, to work with the left hand, implying inefficiency in performance; to take a thing by the left ear (cf. quot. a. 1684). † b. To go over the left shoulder: to be squandered. c. Over the left shoulder, now over the left simply, a slang phrase implying that the words to which it is appended express the reverse of what is really meant.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. xliii. 114. Þat beholden þinges transitory wiþ þe lifte eye ande hevenly þinges wiþ þe riȝt eye.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 14. Some of our new Architectors, have read some Authors about alterations of States with their left eyes, which makes them work with their left hands, so sinisterly.
a. 1684. Leighton, Comm. 1 Pet. ii. 1 (1693), 225. Taking all things by the left Ear; for (as Epictetus says) Every thing hath two handles.
1705. Rec. Hartford County Court (U.S.), 4 Sept., in Newcastle Daily Jrnl., 28 July 1891. The said Waters, as he departed from the table, he said, ‘God bless you over the left shoulder.’
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, I. 218. With t’other, perhaps, you’ll have an account to keep, too; But an account of what will go over the left shoulder; only of what he squanders, what he borrows, and what he owes, and never will pay.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlii. Each gentleman pointed with his right thumb over his left shoulder. This action, imperfectly described in words by the very feeble expression of ‘over the left’ … its expression is one of light and playful sarcasm.
1843. W. T. Moncrieff, Scamps Lond., I. i. I think she will come. Ned. Yes, over the left—ha, ha, ha!
1852. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 137. ‘All over the left,’ said Frosty … ‘He’s come gammonin’ down here that he’s a great man … but it’s all my eye.’
3. That has the relative position of the left hand with respect to the right. (Sometimes said with reference to the appearance to a spectator, and sometimes with reference to the direction in which the object is considered to face.) In predicative use with const. of; in attributive use now chiefly replaced by LEFT-HAND, exc. in certain special collocations, as left wing (of an army), left branch (of a stream). Left bank (of a river): that to the left of a person looking down the stream.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xi. 128. Uppon the lyfte way, men goon fyrst un to Damas, by Flome Iordane.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 47. He falls a fighting with his text, and makes a pitch’d battel of it, dividing it into the right-wing and left-wing.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, IV. xxxiii. 319. They then proceeded along the left bank of the Tigris.
1845. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 28. A prison … the ruins of which long after, remained on the left bank of the Seine.
1882. Cussans, Her. (ed. 3), 45. That part of the shield which appears on the left side is called the dexter.
Mod. The greater part of the town is left of the railway.
b. Left side, left wing (the latter by confusion with the military use), in politics, = LEFT sb. 2 c. For left center see CENTRE sb. 15.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. vi. ii. 308. The Left side [of the Assembly] is also called the d’Orleans side.
1898. J. E. C. Bodley, France, II. IV. vii. 427. Significant also is the attitude of the Socialists, who now compose the Radical left wing.
4. Comb.: parasynthetic, chiefly in sense ‘having the left limb more efficient than the right’; as left-eyed, -footed (hence left-footedness), -legged (hence left-leggedness); also left-sided, -witted (see quots.). Also LEFT-HANDED.
1622. Massinger, Virg. Mart., IV. ii. I wud not giue vp the cloake of your seruice to meet the splay-foot estate of any *leftey’d knight aboue the Antipodes, because they are vnlucky to meete.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 20 Jan., 5/2. [In rifle-shooting] a left-eyed man can easily fire from his left shoulder.
1891. J. Workman, in Sir D. Wilson, Right Hand, 169. I am myself *left-footed. Ibid. Right and *left-footedness prevailed about equally.
1728. Pope, Dunc., II. 68. Bernard … *left-legg’d Jacob seems to emulate.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, xvi. He was left-legged as well as left-handed.
1890. W. K. Sibley, in 19th Cent., May, 773 (art.), *Left-leggedness.
1880. Barwell, Aneurism, 84. The *left-sided destination of fibrinous concreta.
1616. B. Jonson, Horace’s Art of Poetry, 389. O I *left-witted [A.P. 301 o ego lævus], that purge every spring For choller!
B. adv. On or towards the left side.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21639. Ouer and vnder, right and left, In þis compas godd all has left.
1796–7. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 228. Squadrons—left wheel!
1832. Prop. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, II. 35. Rear Divisions left incline.
1833. Regal. Instr. Cavalry, II. 125. Draw back the body and ‘Left Parry.’
1884. Times, 3 March, 5/3. ‘Troops, left about,’ was sounded immediately.
1885. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, March, 23. She … Lookt left and right to rise and set of day.
1886. Manch. Exam., 14 Jan., 5/6. Mr. Gladstone was supported right and left by Lord H. and Sir W. H.
C. sb.
† 1. A mean, worthless person. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IV. 62. Conscience hym tolde, Þat wronge was a wikked luft.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 1284. His wyf, that cursyd lyfte, Brewed the childys deth that nyght.
2. a. = LEFT HAND. Often in advb. phrases referring to relative position or direction (cf. A. 1 b), where it is now apprehended as merely absol. of the adj.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 257. Þe middel sti bituhhe riht and luft.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2463. Queder þou ches, on right or left, I sal ta me þat þou haues left.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 558. Vangard to Right and Left the Front unfould.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. 73. If the Shot graze to the right or left.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, IX. 864. Jove … thunder’d on the left.
1842. Tennyson, Vision Sin, 138. In her right a civic wreath, In her left a human head. Ibid. (1855), Charge Light Brig., iii. Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them,… Volley’d and thunder’d.
1859. Field Exerc. Infantry, 35. A squad will be formed to the front, left, or left about, on the same principle.
1898. Daily News, 24 Nov., 7/3. Corbett kept trying to push his left in Sharkey’s face.
b. Mil. The left wing (of an army). Also in pl., the men whose place is on the left.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4334/4. Our Right was then at Louvignies, and our Left at Naast.
1780. A. Hamilton, Wks. (1886), VIII. 14. We see the consequences. His left ran away, and left his right uncovered.
1796–7. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 191. The left’s go about by three’s.
1832. Prop. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, II. 33. Their Centres and Lefts move up.
1881. Henty, Cornet of Horse, xvi. (1888), 165. He formed … a heavy column of attack opposite the French left.
c. In continental legislatures, the section of the members who occupy seats on the left side of the chamber (as viewed from the president’s chair), a situation which is by custom assigned to those holding relatively liberal or democratic opinions. Hence applied transf. to the more advanced or innovating section of a philosophical school, a religious sect, or the like.
For the origin of the party significance of the term, see CENTRE sb. 15.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. ii. 285. Still less is a Coté Gauche wanting: extreme Left.
1898. J. E. C. Bodley, France, II. IV. i. 327. But it was not the combats between the Moderates and the Extreme Left which made ministerial instability a stereotyped feature of the Third Republic after it had passed into the hands of Republicans.
3. A glove, boot, etc., for the left hand or foot.
1864. F. Locker, My Mistress’s Boots, vii. Cinderella’s lefts and rights To Geraldine’s were frights.
Hence Leftness, the condition of being on the left.
1530. Palsgr., 238/1. Leftnesse, gavcheté.
1887. W. James, in Mind, Jan., 14. Rightness and leftness, upness and downness, are again pure sensations differing specifically from each other.
