Emily Dickinson Lexicon

lade (-n), v. [OE hladan, to load.]

Load; supply; spread; strew; provide; furnish; hold a substance.

lade (-n), verbal adj. [see lade, v.]

Burdened; weighed down; [fig.] worried; preoccupied; [allusion to Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that … are heavy laden.]

lady (ladies, -'s), n. [OE hlæfdíge, bread kneader; NW says related to hláford, lord, bread giver.] (webplay: belongs, bread-givers, doubtful, earls, lord, woman).

1. Dame; woman; often noblewoman; gentlewoman; refined woman; woman of prestige.
2. [Fig.] flower.
3. Sun; central body of light in its relation to the movement of the earth [personified as a woman.] [304]
4. Female persona of the poem.
5. [Fig.] virtue; virtuous attribute; people's capacity for compassion.

lag (-ging), v. [unknown.]

Stall; dally; delay; move slowly; fall behind.

lagging, verbal adj. [see lag, v.] (webplay: behind, delayed, slow).

Tardy; belated; overdue; stalling.

lake, n. [OE lác.]

Inland sea; reservoir; pool; [fig.] reflection of truth; exterior surface of reality; outer aspects of life; mortality; transitory appearance of things; temporal existence.

lamb (-s), n. [OE lamb.] (webplay: bound, gentle, God, kind, word).

1. Baby sheep; [fig.] lost children; lost souls; despairing souls (without hope).
2. [Fig.] Jesus Christ.

lame, v. [OE.]

Cripple; impair.

lamp (-s), n. [Fr. lampe.] (webplay: burn, dying, gentle, life, light, mines, moon, oil, wick, within).

1. Enlightenment; light of Christ; flash of thought; source of knowledge; [fig.] angel.
2. [Fig.] shining countenance, righteous soul.
3. Vessel containing oil to be burned by means of a wick.
4. [Fig.] knowledge, hope.
5. [Fig.] lamp for lighting coal mines, without exposing workmen to the explosion of inflammable air.
6. [Fig.] Light producing heavenly body; sun; moon; star; meteor.
7. [Fig.] inspiration, ideas, understanding, insight.
8. [Fig.] spirit; life.

land (-s), n. [OE land.] (webplay: between, country, earth, field, freedom, furrow, ground, house, lay, left, nature, night, old, own, place, plain, sea, see, set, ship, shore, silence, small, state, suppose, traitor, water).

1. Solid portion of the earth's surface, as opposed to sea, water.
2. Part of the earth's surface marked off by natural or political boundaries or considered as an integral section of the globe; country; territory; dominion.
3. Region; territorial possession; piece of landed property; estate in land.
4. Clear place or area; a plain or field.
5. Folk; inhabitants of a country or region; people of a nation.
6. [Fig.] heaven.
7. Shore; especially used in nautical phrases pertaining to its discovery from sea as the ship approaches it; cry of sailors at the first sight of land.
8. [Fig.] Opportunity; goal; end; destination.
9. [Fig.] far.