Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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

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

laden, verbal adj. [see lade, v.]

Burdened; weighed down; [fig.] worried; preoccupied; (see 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. Damsel; maiden; [fig.] flower.
2. Self; author; poet; female persona of the poem.
3. Dame; woman; gentlewoman; noble female; refined woman; woman of prestige.
4. Phrase. “Lady of the Occident”: sunset; [personification] solar light in relation to the movement of the earth at eventide.
5. Phrase. “Sweet Lady – Charity”: dear woman, please be generous; kind matron, please give us bread; sweet lady, for charity's sake please hear me; (see Gloucester to Anne in Shakespeare's King Richard III 1.2 “Sweet saint, for charity, be not so cursed”).

lag (lagging), 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.]

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

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

1. Baby sheep; [fig.] mortals; little ones; lost children; hopeless souls; vulnerable individuals.
2. Sacrificial offering; animal set apart for ritual killing as a covenant symbol [fig.] Jesus Christ; appointed Savior of mankind (see Genesis 22:7-8).
3. Phrase. “Supper of the Lamb”: sacrament; future Passover; the feast of covenant love; the wedding dinner for the Bridegroom and the Bride; [fig.] the Apocalypse; the celebration that will occur when Christ returns to His people; (see Revelation 19:9).

lame, v. [OE.]

Cripple; impair; [fig.] blind.

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

1. Light; vessel containing oil to be burned by means of a wick; [fig.] enlightenment; flash of thought; source of knowledge.
2. Soul; union of body and spirit; [fig.] righteous soul; person with a shining countenance.
3. Torch; firebrand; campfire; [fig.] star.
4. Source of illumination; [fig.] hope; good cheer; source of comfort.
5. Taper; wax light in a holder.
6. Safety light; illuminating headgear that miners wear on their heads when they are underground.
7. Heavenly body; object in space that radiates light; shining body in space such as the sun, moon, star, meteor, etc.
8. Candle; [fig.] inspiration; ideas; understanding; insight; [metaphor] poem; epic; ode; sonnet; ballad; verse; creative work; literary composition.
9. Spark; [fig.] spirit; life force.

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. Dry ground; a new place to live; a safe area to dwell after the cleansing of the earth in the Great Flood (see Genesis 7:12-24 and 8:8-12); [fig.] poetry; truth and love; answers to life's questions; [metaphor] paradise; heaven; [allusion] India; Columbia; the Indies; the Americas; a New World; another hemisphere on the map.
2. Country; kingdom; dominion; part of the globe set apart by political boundaries.
3. Solid portion of the earth's surface, as opposed to water; [fig.] folk; people of a nation; inhabitants of a region; [fig.] family; circle of friends.
4. Firm ground; [fig.] opportunity; goal; end; destination; [metaphor] a promised destiny as a reward for faith (see Hebrews 11:9).
5. Earth; [fig.] cemetery sod; graveyard ground.
6. Harbor; haven; [fig.] heaven; life after death; a new life after mortality.
7. Plain; field; clearing; meadow; area where trees and undergrowth have been removed.
8. Phrase. “Land Ho!”: I see the Shore! [cry of sailors at the first sight of terre firma from a boat on the sea.]
9. Phrase. “Van Dieman's Land”: Tasmania's territory, region, or island; (see Van Dieman's, proper n.).
10. Phrase. “Lands away”: to faraway nations; to other worlds; to nations, peoples, customs, and experiences in other parts of this world and to worlds beyond.