Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LEND'A-BLE, a.

That may be lent. Sherwood.

LEND'ER, n.

1. One who lends. The borrower is servant to the lender. Prov. xxii.
2. One who makes a trade of putting money to interest. Bacon. Dryden.

LEND'ING, n.

1. The act of loaning.
2. That which is lent or furnished. Shak.

LEND'ING, ppr.

Granting for temporary use. [See Lend.]

LENDS, n. [Sax.]

Loins. [Not in use.] Wickliffe.

LENGTH, n. [Sax. lengthe, from leng, long; D. lengte.]

1. The extent of any thing material from end to end; the longest line which can be drawn through a body, parallel to its sides; as, the length of a church or of a ship; the length of a rope or line.
2. Extent; extension. Stretch'd at his length, he spurns the swarthy ground. Dryden.
3. A certain extent; a portion of space; with a plural. Large lengths of seas and shores. Shak.
4. Space of time; duration, indefinitely; as, a great length of time. What length of time will this enterprise require for its accomplishment?
5. Long duration. May heaven, great monarch, still augment your bliss, / With length of days, and every day like this. Dryden.
6. Reach or extent; as, to pursue a subject to a great length.
7. Extent; as, the length of a discourse, essay, or argument.
8. Distance. He had marched to the length of Exeter. [Unusual and inelegant.] Clarendon. At length, at or in the full extent. Let the name be inserted at length. #2. At last; at the end or conclusion. Dryden.

LENGTH, v.t.

To extend. [Not used.]

LENGTH'EN, v.i.

To grow longer; to extend in length. A hempen rope contracts when wet, and lengthens when dry.

LENGTH'EN, v.t. [length'n.]

1. To extend in length; to make longer; to elongate; as, to lengthen a line.
2. To draw out or extend in time; to protract; to continue in duration; as, to lengthen life. The days lengthen from December to June.
3. To extend; as, to lengthen a discourse or a dissertation.
4. To draw out in pronunciation; as, to lengthen a sound or a syllable. This verb is often followed by out, which may be sometimes emphatical, but in general is useless. What if I please to lengthen out his date? Dryden.

LENGTH'EN-ED, pp.

Made longer; drawn out in length; continued in duration.

LENGTH'EN-ING, n.

Continuation; protraction. Dan. iv.

LENGTH'EN-ING, ppr.

Making longer; extending in length or in duration.

LENGTH'FUL, a.

Of great length in measure. Pope.

LENGTH'I-LY, adv.

In a lengthy manner; at great length or extent. Jefferson.

LENGTH'I-NESS, n.

Length; the state of being lengthy. Knickerbocker, March, 1833.

LENGTH'WISE, adv.

In the direction of the length; in a longitudinal direction.

LENGTH'Y, a.

Being long or moderately long; not short; not brief; applied mostly to moral subjects, as to discourses, writings, arguments, proceedings, &c.; as, a lengthy sermon; a lengthy dissertation; a lengthy detail. Lengthy periods. Washington's Letter to Plater. No ministerial act in France, in matters of judicial cognizance is done without a proces verbal, in which the facts are stated amidst a great deal of lengthy formality, with a degree of minuteness, highly profitable to the verbalizing officers and to the revenue. Am. Review, Ap. Oct. 1811. P S Murray has sent or will send a double copy of the Bride and Giaour; in the last one some lengthy additions; pray accept them according to old customs. Lord Byron's Letter to Dr. Clarke, Dec. 13, 1813. Chalmers' Political Annals, in treating of South Carolina – is by no means as lengthy as Mr. Hewitt's History. Drayton's View ef South Carolina. These would be details too lengthy. Jefferson.

LE'NI-EN-CY, n.

Lenity.

LE'NI-ENT, a. [L. leniens, from lenio, lenis, soft, mild; Ar. لَلنَ laina, to be soft, or smooth. Class Ln, No. 4. The primary sense probably is smooth, or to make smooth, and blandus may be of the same family.]

1. Softening; mitigating; assuasive. Time, that an all things lays his lenient hand, / Yet tames not this. Pope Sometimes with of; as, lenient of grief. Milton
2. Relaxing; emollient. Oils relax the fibers, are lenient, balsamic. Arbuthnot

LE'NI-ENT, n.

That which softens or assuages; an emolient. Wiseman

LE'NI-ENT-LY, adv.

Mitigatingly; assuagingly.

LEN'I-FY, v.t.

To assuage; to soften; to mitigate. [Little used.] Bacon. Dryden

LEN'I-MENT, n.

An assuasive. [Not used.]

LEN'I-TIVE, a. [It. lenitivo; Fr. lenitif; from L. lenio, to soften.]

Having the quality of softening or mitigating, as pain or acrimony; assuasive; emollient. Bacon. Arbuthnot.

LEN'I-TIVE, n.

1. A medicine or application that has the quality of easing pain; that which softens or mitigates.
2. A palliative; that which abates passion. South.