Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LE-GER'I-TY, n. [Fr. legereté.]

Lightness; nimbleness. [Not in use.] – Shak.

LEG'GED, a. [from leg.]

Having legs; used in composition; as, a two-legged animal.

LEG'GIN, n. [from leg.]

A cover for the leg; a garment that incloses the leg. – Mackenzie.

LEG-I-BIL'I-TY, n.

Legibleness; the quality or state of being legible.

LEG'I-BLE, a. [L. legibilis, from lego, to read.]

1. That may be read; consisting of letters or figures that may be distinguished by the eye; as, a fair, legible manuscript.
2. That may be discovered or understood by apparent mark or indications. The thoughts of men are often legible in their countenances.

LEG'I-BLE-NESS, n.

The quality or state of being legible.

LEG'I-BLY, adv.

In such a manner as may be read; as, a manuscript legibly written.

LE'GION, n. [L. legio, from lego, to collect.]

1. In Roman antiquity, a body of infantry consisting of different numbers of men at different periods, from three to five thousand. Each legion was divided into ten cohorts, each cohort into ten companies, and each company into two centuries. – Encyc.
2. A military force; military bands. – Shak.
3. A great number. Where one sin has entered, legions will force their way through the same breach. – Rogers. My name is legion, for we are many. Mark v.

LE'GION-A-RY, a.

1. Relating to a legion or to legions.
2. Consisting of a legion or of legions; as, a legionary force.
3. Containing a great number; as, a legionary body of errors. – Brown.

LE'GION-A-RY, n.

One of a legion. – Milton.

LE'GION-RY, n.

Body of legions. – Pollok.

LEG'IS-LATE, v.i. [L. lex, legis, law, and fero, latum, to give, pass, or enact.]

To make or enact a law or laws. It is a question whether it is expedient to legislate at present on the subject. Let us not legislate, when we have no power to enforce our laws.

LEG'IS-LA-TED, pp. [of Legislate.]

LEG'IS-LA-TING, ppr.

Enacting laws.

LEG-IS-LA'TION, n. [Fr.]

The act of passing a law or laws; the enacting of laws. Pythagoras joined legislation to his philosophy. – Littleton.

LEG'IS-LA-TIVE, a. [Fr. legislatif.]

1. Giving or enacting laws; as, a legislative body.
2. Capable of enacting laws; as, legislative power.
3. Pertaining to the enacting of laws; suitable to laws; as, the legislative style.
4. Done by enacting; as, a legislative act. Note. In this word, and in legislator, legislatrix, legislature, the accent is nearly equal on the first and third syllables, and a in the third, has its first or long sound.

LEG-IS-LA'TOR, n. [L.]

A lawgiver; one who makes laws for a state or community. This word is limited in its use to a supreme lawgiver, the lawgiver of a sovereign state or kingdom, and is not applied to men that make the by-laws of a subordinate corporation.

LEG-IS-LA'TOR-SHIP, n.

The office of a legislator. [Not in use.] – Halifax.

LEG-IS-LA'TRESS, or LEG-IS-LA'TRIX, n.

A female who makes laws. – Tooke.

LEG'IS-LA-TURE, n. [Sp. legislatura.]

The body of men in a state or kingdom, invested with power to make and repeal laws; the supreme power of a state. The legislature of Great Britain; consists of the house of lords and the house of commons with the king, whose sanction is necessary to every bill before it becomes a law. The legislatures of most of the states in America, consist of two houses or branches, but the sanction of the governor is required to give their acts the force of law, or a concurrence of two-thirds of the two houses, after he has declined and assigned his objections.

LE'GIST, n.

One skilled in the laws. – Marston.

LE-GIT'I-MA-CY, n. [from legitimate.]

1. Lawfulness of birth; opposed to bastardy. Ayliffe.
2. Genuineness; opposed to spuriousness. The legitimacy of his conclusions is not to be questioned.

LE-GIT'I-MATE, a. [Fr. legitime; L. legitimus; from lex, law.]

1. Lawfully begotten or born; born in wedlock; as, legitimate heirs or children.
2. Genuine; real; proceeding from a pure source; not false or spurious; as, legitimate arguments or inferences.

LE-GIT'I-MATE, v.t. [Fr. legitimer; Sp. legitimar; legittimare.]

1. To make lawful.
2. To render legitimate; to communicate the rights of a legitimate child to one that is illegitimate; to invest with the rights of a lawful heir.

LE-GIT'I-MA-TED, pp.

Made lawful.