Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LAU'REL, n. [L. laurus; It. lauro; Fr. laurier; Sp. laurel; Port. laureiro; W. llorwyz, llorwyzen, laurel wood, from the root of llawr, a floor, llor, that spreads; Dan. lawr-bær-tree; G. lorbeer, the laurel or bay-berry. Laur coincides in elements with flower, floreo.]

The English of Laurus, a genus of plants of several species. Encyc.

LAU'REL-ED, a.

Crowned or decorated with laurel, or with a laurel wreath; laureate.

LAU-RIF'ER-OUS, a. [L. laurus and fero, to bear.]

Producing or bringing laurel.

LAUR'IN, n.

A fatty acrid matter contained in the berries of the laurel.

LAU'RUS-TIN, n. [L. laurustinus.]

A plant, the Viburnum Tinus, an evergreen shrub or tree, of the South of Europe.

LAUS-DEO, n. [Laus deo; L.]

Praise to God.

LAUS'KRAUT, n. [G. läusekraut, louse-plant.]

A plant of the genus Delphinium.

LAU'TU, n.

A band of cotton, twisted and worn on the head of the Inca of Peru, as a badge of royalty. J. Barlow.

LA'VA, n. [probably from flowing, and from the root of L. fluo, or lavo; It. laua, a stream, now lava.]

1. A mass or stream of melted minerals or stony matter which bursts or is thrown from the mouth or sides of a volcano, and is sometimes ejected in such quantities as to overwhelm cities. Catania, at the foot of Etna, has often been destroyed by it, and in 1783, a vast tract of land in Iceland was overspread by an eruption of lava from mount Heela.
2. The same matter when cool and hardened.

LA'VA-LIKE, a.

Resembling lava.

LA-VA'TION, n. [L. lavatio, from lavo.]

A washing or cleansing. Hakewill.

LAV'A-TO-RY, n. [See Lave.]

1. A place for washing.
2. A wash or lotion for a diseased part.
3. A place where gold is obtained by washing. Encyc.

LAVE, v.i.

To bathe; to wash one's self. Pope.

LAVE, v.t. [Fr. laver; Sp. lavar; It. lavare; L. lavo; Gr. λουω; Sans. allava; probably contracted from lago or laugo.]

To wash; to bathe; a word used chiefly in poetry or rhetoric. Milton. Dryden.

LAVE, v.t. [Fr. lever.]

To throw up or out; to lade out. [Not in use.] B. Jonson.

LAV'ED, pp.

Bathed; washed.

LAVE'-EAR-ED, a.

Having large pendant ears. [Not in use.] Bp. Hall.

LA-VEER', v.t. [Fr. louvoyer or louvier; D. laveeren.]

In seamen's language, to tack; to sail back and forth. [I believe this word is not in common use.]

LAVE'MENT, n. [Fr.]

1. A washing or bathing.
2. A glyster.

LAV'EN-DER, n. [L. lavandula.]

An aromatic plant, Lavandula.

LAV'EN-DER-WA-TER, n.

A liquor composed of spirits of wine, essential oil of lavender, and ambergris.

LA'VER, n. [Fr. lavoir from laver, to lave.]

A vessel for washing; a large basin; in Scripture history, a basin placed in the court of the Jewish tabernacle, where the officiating priests washed their hands and feet and the entrails of victims. Encyc.

LAV'ER-OCK, n. [See LARK.]

LAV'ING, ppr.

Washing; bathing.

LAV'ISH, a. [I know not from what source we have received this word. It coincides in elements with L. liber, free, liberal, and L. lavo, to wash.]

1. Prodigal; expending or bestowing with profusion; profuse. He was lavish of expense; lavish of praise; lavish of encomiums; lavish of censure; lavish of blood and treasure.
2. Wasteful; expending without necessity; liberal to a fault. Dryden.
3. Wild; unrestrained. Curbing his lavish spirit. Shak.