Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LE'O-NINE, a. [L. leoninus, from leo, lion.]

Belonging to a lion; resembling a lion, or partaking of his qualities; as, leonine fierceness or rapacity. Leonine verses, so named from Leo, the inventor, are those, the end of which rhymes with the middle; as, Gloria factorum temere conceditur horum. – Johnson.

LE'O-NINE-LY, adv.

In the manner of a lion. – Harris.

LEOP'ARD, n. [lep'ard; L. leo, lion, and pardus, pard, Gr. παρδος, from Heb. פרד, to separate, that is, spotted, broken into spots.]

A carnivorous digitigrade mammal belonging to the genus Felis, i.e. the Cat group. It inhabits central Africa. Its fur is yellow, with at least ten ranges of small black clusters of spots on each flank.

LEOP'ARD'S-BANE, n.

The English popular name of several different plants, principally species of the genera Arnica and Doronicum.

LEP'A-DITE, a. [Gr. λεπας.]

One of an order of Cirripodes, animals having cirri; the Goose barnacle, which is fixed to a solid substance by a tendinous, contractile tube. – Kirby.

LEP'ER, n. [L. lepra, leprosy, Fr. lepre, Ir. lobhar, Gr. λεπρα, from λεπις, a scale.]

A person affected with leprosy.

LEP'ID, a. [L. lepidus.]

Pleasant; jocose. [Little used.]

LEP'I-DO-DEN-DRON, n. [Gr. λεπιδιον, a scale, and δενδρον, tree.]

A fossil tree, so named from the scaly appearance of the stem, produced by the separation of the leaf stalks. – Mantell.

LEP'ID-OID, n. [Gr. λεπις and ειδος.]

One of a family of extinct fossil fishes of the oolitic formation. – Buckland.

LEP'I-DO-LITE, n. [Gr. λεπις, a scale.]

A mineral found in scaly masses, ordinarily of a violet or lilac color; allied to mica. – Dict. Lepidolite is of a peach-blossom red color, sometimes gray; massive and in small concretions. On account of its beautiful color, it has been put into snuff-boxes. It is sometimes called lilalite. – Jameson. Ure.

LEP'I-DOP-TER, or LEP-I-DOP'TE-RA, n. [Gr. λεπις, a scale, and πτερον, a wing.]

The Lepidopters are an order of insects having four membranaceous wings covered with fine imbricate scales, like powder, as the butterfly.

LEP-I-DOP'TER-AL, a.

Belonging to the order of Lepidopters.

LEP-I-DOP'TER-OUS, a.

Lepidopteral.

LEP'O-RINE, a. [L. leporinus, from lepus, a hare. Qu. the Teutonic leap, to run.]

Pertaining to a hare; having the nature or qualities of the hare. – Johnson.

LE-PROS'I-TY, n.

Squamousness. [Little used.] Bacon.

LEP'RO-SY, a. [See Leper.]

A foul cutaneous disease, appearing in dry, white, thin, scurfy scabs, attended with violent itching. It sometimes covers the whole body, rarely the face. One species of it is called elephantiasis. – Encyc. The term leprosy is loosely and incorrectly applied to two very distinct diseases, the scaly and the tuberculated, or the proper leprosy and the elephantiasis. The former is characterized by patches of smooth laminated scales, sometimes livid, but usually whitish; in the latter the skin is thickened, livid and tuberculated. It is called the black leprosy, but this term is also applied to the livid variety of the scaly leprosy. – Good.

LEP'ROUS, a. [Fr. lepreux. See Leper.]

Infected with leprosy; covered with white scales. His hand was leprous as snow. – Ex. iv.

LEP'ROUS-LY, adv.

In an infectious degree.

LEP'ROUS-NESS, n.

The state of being leprous.

LEP-TO-DAC'TYL, n. [Gr. λεπτος, slender, and δακτυλος, a toe.]

A bird or other animal having slender toes. – Hitchcock.

LEP-TOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. λεπτος, small, and λογος, discourse.]

A minute and tedious discourse on trifling things.

LERE, n.

Learning; lesson; lore. [Obs.] – Spenser.

LERE, v.t.

To learn; to teach. [Obs.] – Chaucer.

LER'NE-ANS, n.

A tribe of parasitic animals, with a body consisting of two segments, like that of the Arachnidans, and two egg-pouches.

LE'SION, n. [le'zhun; L. læsio, from lædo, to hurt.]

A hurting: hurt; wound; injury. – Rush.