5. (Shipbuilding) A piece of timber to support the deck, placed
athwartship between beams.
Ledge"ment (lj"ment), n. See Ledgment.
Ledg"er(lj"r), n. [Akin to D. legger layer, daybook (fr. leggen to lay,
liggen to lie), E. ledge, lie. See Lie to be prostrate.] 1. A book in
which a summary of accounts is laid up or preserved; the final book of
record in business transactions, in which all debits and credits from
the journal, etc., are placed under appropriate heads. [Written also
leger.]
2. (Arch.) (a) A large flat stone, esp. one laid over a tomb. Oxf.
Gloss. (b) A horizontal piece of timber secured to the uprights and
supporting floor timbers, a staircase, scaffolding, or the like. It
differs from an intertie in being intended to carry weight. [Written
also ligger.]
Ledger bait, fishing bait attached to a floating line fastened to the
bank of a stream, pond, etc. Walton. J. H. Walsh. -- Ledger blade, a
stationary shearing blade in a machine for shearing the nap of cloth.
-- Ledger line. See Leger line, under 3d Leger, a. -- Ledger wall
(Mining), the wall under a vein; the foot wall. Raymond.
Ledg"ment (-ment), n. (Arch.) (a) A string-course or horizontal suit of
moldings, such as the base moldings of a building. Oxf. Gloss. (b) The
development of the surface of a body on a plane, so that the dimensions
of the different sides may be easily ascertained. Gwilt. [Written also
ledgement, legement, and ligement.]
Ledg"y (-), a. Abounding in ledges; consisting of a ledge or reef; as,
a ledgy island.
Lee (l), v. i., To lie; to speak falsely. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Lee, n.; pl. Lees (lz). [F. lie, perh. fr. L. levare to lift up, raise.
Cf. Lever.] That which settles at the bottom, as of a cask of liquor
(esp. wine); sediment; dregs; -- used now only in the plural. [Lees
occurs also as a form of the singular.] "The lees of wine." Holland.
A thousand demons lurk within the lee.
Young.
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to
brag of.
Shak.
Lee, n. [OE. lee shelter, Icel. hl, akin to AS. hleó, hleów, shelter,
protection, OS. hlèo, D. lij lee, Sw. lä, Dan. læ.] 1. A sheltered
place; esp., a place protected from the wind by some object; the side
sheltered from the wind; shelter; protection; as, the lee of a
mountain, an island, or a ship.
We lurked under lee.
Morte d'Arthure.
Desiring me to take shelter in his lee.
Tyndall.
2. (Naut.) That part of the hemisphere, as one stands on shipboard,
toward which the wind blows. See Lee, a.
By the lee, To bring by the lee. See under By, and Bring. -- Under the
lee of, on that side which is sheltered from the wind; as, to be under
the lee of a ship.
Lee, a. (Naut.) Of or pertaining to the part or side opposite to that
against which the wind blows; -- opposed to weather; as, the lee side
or lee rail of a vessel.
Lee gauge. See Gauge, n. (Naut.) -- Lee shore, the shore on the lee
side of a vessel. -- Lee tide, a tide running in the same direction
that the wind blows. -- On the lee beam, directly to the leeward; in a
line at right angles to the length of the vessel and to the leeward.
Lee"board` (l"brd`), n. A board, or frame of planks, lowered over the
side of a vessel to lessen her leeway when closehauled, by giving her
greater draught.
Leech (lch), n. See 2d Leach.
Leech, v. t. See Leach, v. t.
Leech, n. [Cf. LG. leik, Icel. lk, Sw. lik boltrope, stående liken the
leeches.] (Naut.) The border or edge at the side of a sail. [Written
also leach.]
Leech line, a line attached to the leech ropes of sails, passing up
through blocks on the yards, to haul the leeches by. Totten. -- Leech
rope, that part of the boltrope to which the side of a sail is sewed.
Leech, n. [OE. leche, læche, physician, AS. lce; akin to Fries. ltza,
OHG. lhh, Icel. læknari, Sw. läkare, Dan. læge, Goth. lkeis, AS. lcnian
to heal, Sw. läka, Dan. læge, Icel. lækna, Goth. lkinn.] 1. A physician
or surgeon; a professor of the art of healing. [Written also leach.]
[Archaic] Spenser.
Leech, heal thyself.
Wyclif (Luke iv. 23).
2. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous genera and species of annulose worms,
belonging to the order Hirudinea, or Bdelloidea, esp. those species
used in medicine, as Hirudo medicinalis of Europe, and allied species.
In the mouth of bloodsucking leeches are three convergent, serrated
jaws, moved by strong muscles. By the motion of these jaws a stellate
incision is made in the skin, through which the leech sucks blood till
it is gorged, and then drops off. The stomach has large pouches on each
side to hold the blood. The common large bloodsucking leech of America
(Macrobdella decora) is dark olive above, and red below, with black
spots. Many kinds of leeches are parasitic on fishes; others feed upon
worms and mollusks, and have no jaws for drawing blood. See Bdelloidea.
Hirudinea, and Clepsine.
3. (Surg.) A glass tube of peculiar construction, adapted for drawing
blood from a scarified part by means of a vacuum.
Horse leech, a less powerful European leech (Hæmopis vorax), commonly
attacking the membrane that lines the inside of the mouth and nostrils
of animals that drink at pools where it lives.
Leech, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leeched (lcht); p. pr. & vb. n. Leeching.]
1. To treat as a surgeon; to doctor; as, to leech wounds. [Archaic]