Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LAC-TES'CENCE, n. [L. lactescens, lactesco, from lacto; lac, milk.]

1. Tendency to milk; milkiness or milky color. – Boyle.
2. In botany, milkiness; the liquor which flows abundantly from a plant, when wounded, commonly white, but sometimes yellow or red. – Martyn.

LAC-TES'CENT, a.

1. Producing milk or white juice. – Arbuthnot.
2. Abounding with a thick colored juice. – Encyc.

LAC'TIC, a.

Pertaining to milk, or procured from sour milk or whey; as the lactic acid. – Fourcroy.

LAC-TIF'ER-OUS, a. [L. lac, milk, and fero, to bear.]

1. Bearing or conveying milk or white juice; as, a lactiferous duct. – Boyle.
2. Producing a thick colored juice; as a plant. – Encyc.

LAC-TO'ME-TER, n. [L. lac and metrum.]

An instrument for ascertaining the proportion of cream in milk. It is a glass tube graduated and filled with milk.

LAC'U-NAR, n. [L.]

An arched roof or ceiling.

LA-CU'NOUS, or LAC-U-NOSE', a. [L. lacunosus, from lacuna, a ditch or hollow.]

Furrowed or pitted. A lacunose leaf has the disk depressed between the veins. – Martyn.

LA-CUS'TRINE, a.

Pertaining to lakes or swamps. – Buckland.

LAD, n. [W. llawd, a lad; and Sax. leod, G. leute, Russ. lead, people, are probably from the same root; Ir. lath, a youth, D. loot, a shoot; Heb. Ch. Syr. Sam. ילד, to procreate or bear young; Eth. ወለደ; Ar. وَلَدَ, walada, id. Class Ld, No. 29.]

A young man or boy; a stripling. – Locke.

LAD'A-NUM, n. [said to be Arabic.]

The resinous juice which exudes from the Cistus ladaniferus, a shrub which grows in Spain and Portugal, or from Cistus Creticus, which grows in Crete, Syria, &c. It is collected with a kind of rake, with leather thongs attached to it, with which the shrubs are brushed. The best sort is in dark-colored black masses, of the consistence of a soft plaster. The other sort is in long rolls coiled up, harder than the former, and of a paler color. It is chiefly used in external applications. – Encyc. Parr.

LAD'DER, n. [Sax. hlædder; D. ladder or leder; G. leiter, a ladder, a leader, a guide; leiten, to lead.]

1. A frame of wood, consisting of two side-pieces, connected by rounds inserted in them at suitable distances, and thus forming steps, by which persons may ascend a building, &c.
2. That by which a person ascends or rises; means of ascending; as, a ladder made of cords. Lowliness is young ambitions ladder. – Shak.
3. Gradual rise; elevation. Mounting fast toward the top of the ladder ecclesiastical. – Swift.

LADE, n.

The mouth of a river. [Obs.] – Gibson.

LADE, v.t. [pret. laded; pp. laded, laden. Sax. ladan and hladan; G. laden; D. laaden; Sw. ladda; Dan. ladder; Russ. klad, a load or cargo; kladu, to put, to lay, to make, build or found, to lay eggs, to give, to suppose, &c. Here we observe that to load or lade is to throw, that is, to put on or in, for to send, thrust, throw, is the sense of laying eggs. Now this is precisely the radical signification of the words loud, lad, W. llawd, clod, L. plaudo, &c.]

1. To load; to put on or in, as a burden or freight. We lade a ship with cotton. We lade a horse or other beast with corn. And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. Gen. xlii.
2. To dip; to throw in or out, as a fluid, with a ladle or dipper; as, to lade water out of a tub or into a cistern.
3. To draw water. [Not in use.]

LAD'ED, or LAD'EN, pp.

1. Loaded; charged with a burden or freight.
2. adj. Oppressed; burdened.

LAD'ING, n.

That which constitutes a load or cargo; freight; burden; as, the lading of a ship. Acts xxvii.

LAD'ING, ppr.

Loading; charging with a burden-or freight; throwing or dipping out.

LAD'KIN, n.

A little lad; a youth. [Little used.]

LADLE, n. [Sax. hlædle, from hladan, supra.]

1. An utensil somewhat like a dish, with a long handle, used for throwing or dipping out liquor from a vessel.
2. The receptacle of a mill wheel, which receives the water which moves it.
3. In gunnery, an instrument for drawing the charge of a cannon. – Mar. Dict.

LA'DLE-FUL, n.

The quantity contained in a ladle. – Swift.

LA'DY, n. [Sax. hlafdig, hlæfdiga, hlæfdia. The first syllable of this word occurs in hlaford, lord, and this is supposed to be hlaf, a loaf, and the words to signify bread-givers. But this is doubtful; the meaning of the last syllable not being ascertained in either word.]

1. A woman of distinction. Originally, the title of lady was given to the daughters of earls and others in high rank, but by custom, the title belongs to any woman of genteel education.
2. A word of complaisance; used of women. Guardian.
3. Mistress; the female who presides or has authority over a manor or family.

LA'DY-BIRD, n. [or LA'DY-BUG, or LA'DY-COW, or LA'DY-FLY.]

1. A small red vaginopennous or sheath-winged insect. – Gay.
2. A coleopterous insect of the genus Coccinella. – Linn.

LA'DY-DAY, n.

The day of the annunciation of the holy virgin, March 25th.

LA'DY-LIKE, a.

1. Like a lady in manners; genteel; well bred.
2. Soft; tender; delicate. – Dryden.

LA-DY'S-BED-STRAW, n. [LA-DY'S BED-STRAW.]

A plant of the genus Galium.

LA-DY'S-BOW-ER, n. [LA-DY'S BOW-ER.]

A plant of the genus Clematis.