Lei"sure (l"zhr; 135), n. [OE. leisere, leiser, OF. leisir, F. loisir,
orig., permission, fr. L. licere to be permitted. See License.] 1.
Freedom from occupation or business; vacant time; time free from
employment.
The desire of leisure is much more natural than of business and
care.
Sir W. Temple.
2. Time at one's command, free from engagement; convenient opportunity;
hence, convenience; ease.
He sighed, and had no leisure more to say.
Dryden.
At leisure. (a) Free from occupation; not busy. (b) In a leisurely
manner; at a convenient time.
Lei"sure, a. Unemployed; as, leisure hours.
Lei"sured (l"zhrd), a. Having leisure. "The leisured classes."
Gladstone.
Lei"sure*ly (l"zhr*l), a. Characterized by leisure; taking abundant
time; not hurried; as, a leisurely manner; a leisurely walk.
Lei"sure*ly, adv. In a leisurely manner. Addison.
||Leit"mo*tif" (lt"m*tf"), n. [G.] (Mus.) See Leading motive, under
||Leading, a.
||
Le"man (l"man or lm"an; 277), n. [OE. lemman, lefman; AS. leóf dear +
mann man. See Lief, and Man.] A sweetheart, of either sex; a gallant,
or a mistress; -- usually in a bad sense. [Archaic] Chaucer. Spenser.
Shak.
Leme (lm), n. [OE. leem, leme, leam, AS. leóma light, brightness; akin
to E. light, n. √122.] A ray or glimmer of light; a gleam. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Leme, v. i. To shine. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Lem"ma (lm"m), n.; pl. L. Lemmata (-m*t), E. Lemmas (-mz). [L. lemma,
Gr. lh^mma anything received, an assumption or premise taken for
granted, fr. lamba`nein to take, assume. Cf. Syllable.] A preliminary
or auxiliary proposition demonstrated or accepted for immediate use in
the demonstration of some other proposition, as in mathematics or
logic.
Lem"man (lm"man), n. A leman. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Lem"ming (lm"mng), n. [Nor. lemming, lemende; cf. Sw. lemel, Lapp.
lummik.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of small arctic rodents of
the genera Myodes and Cuniculus, resembling the meadow mice in form.
They are found in both hemispheres.
The common Northern European lemming (Myodes lemmus) is remarkable for
making occasional devastating migrations in enormous numbers from the
mountains into the lowlands.
Lem"ni*an (lm"n*an), a. [L. Lemnius, fr. Lemnus, Gr. Lh^mnos.] Of or
pertaining to the isle of Lemnos.
Lemnian bole, Lemnian earth, an aluminous earth of a grayish yellow
color; sphragide; -- formerly sold as medicine, having astringent
properties. -- Lemnian reddle, a reddle of firm consistence and deep
red color; -- used by artificers in coloring.
{ Lem`nis*ca"ta (lm`ns*k"t), Lem*nis"cate (lm*ns"kt), } n. [L.
lemniscatus adorned with ribbons, fr. lemniscus a ribbon hanging down,
Gr. lhmni`skos.] (Geom.) A curve in the form of the figure 8, with both
parts symmetrical, generated by the point in which a tangent to an
equilateral hyperbola meets the perpendicular on it drawn from the
center.
||Lem*nis"cus (lm*ns"ks), n.; pl. Lemnisci (- s). [L. See Lemniscata.]
||(Zoöl.) One of two oval bodies hanging from the interior walls of the
||body in the Acanthocephala.
||
Lem"on (lm"n), n. [F. limon, Per. lmn; cf. Ar. laimn, Sp. limon, It.
limone. Cf. Lime a fruit.]
1. (Bot.) An oval or roundish fruit resembling the orange, and
containing a pulp usually intensely acid. It is produced by a tropical
tree of the genus Citrus, the common fruit known in commerce being that
of the species C. Limonum or C. Medica (var. Limonum). There are many
varieties of the fruit, some of which are sweet.