1781. G. Parker, View of Society, 1. 43. It being one of the usual
enquiries made by Managers of the candidates for country
engagements, ‘How many lengths can you study from night to night?’
A length is forty two lines.
1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxiii. I’ve a part of twelve
lengths here which I must be up in by to-morrow night.
1871. Edinburgh Review, ‘Lord Brougham’s Recollections of a Long
Life.’ Keen said that Iago was three lengths longer than Othello.
1885. Household Words, 22 Aug., p. 328. All they knew or cared to
know was that they had to get into their heads certain lengths of a
certain drama to be produced that very night.
To get the length of one’s foot, verb. phr. (common).—To fascinate; to
understand how to manage a person.
Lenten-faced, adj. (old).—Starved- or sad-looking.
1621. Burton, Anatomy (ed. 1893), iii. 220. Howsoever they put on
lenten faces, and whatsoever they pretend.
Lenten-fare, subs. (old).—See quot.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. Lenten fare, spare diet.
Ler-ac-am, subs. (back slang).—Mackarel.
Lericompoop (Leripup, Leripoop, or Luripup), subs. (old).—Originally an
academical scarf or hood. Hence, (1) knowledge or acuteness; (2) a man
or woman of parts; (3) a swindle, jest, or trick; and (4) a cheat,
buffoon, or jester. Thence, to play one’s liripups = (1) to undergo
examination for a degree; and (2) to play the fool (from the contempt
into which scholastic subtleties had in the end to fall). Also as verb
= to deceive, to cheat.
1584. Sapho and Phaon, i. 3. Thow maist be skilled in thy logic,
but not in thy lerypoope.
1593. Harvey, Pierces Superer. [Grosart (1885), ii. 78]. Nash is
learned, and knoweth his leripup. Ibid. 278. Be no niggard of thy
sweet accents ... but reach the antike muses their right leripup.
1594. J. Lyly, Mother Bombie, i. 3. There’s a girl that knows her
lerripoop.
1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller [Grosart (1885), v. 159]. Heere was a
wily wench had her liripoop without book.
1603–37. Breton, Packet of Letters [Grosart (1870), ii. h. 34, 10,
line 4]. I see you haue little to doe that haue so much leisure to
play your luripups.
1605. London Prodigal, iv. 1. Well cha’ a bin zarved many a
sluttish trick, but such a lerripoop ... was never yzarved.
1611. Cotgrave, Dict., s.v. Qui sçait bien son roulet, one that
knows his liripoope.
1621. Beaumont & Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 1. Keep me this young
lirry-poop within doors.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, i. 186. And all the day long, This,
this was her song, Was ever poor Maiden so lericompoop’d.
Lesbian, subs. (venery).—A fellatrix of women. [From the legend of
Sappho and the women of Lesbos].
Lesson. See Simple Arithmetic.
Let. Let alone, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Much less; not mentioning.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ... I have not had, this livelong
day, one drop to cheer my heart, Nor brown to buy a bit of bread
with—let alone a tart.
1851. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, i. ‘You have brought a wild
beast with you, which has eaten up all the tea-cakes.’ ‘Let alone
fright’ning the blessed cat so that she’s flowed up the chimley.’
1857. C. Reade, Never Too Late, xxxvi. The wind emptied a glass of
the very moisture, let alone the liquid in a moment.
To let the cat out of the bag, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To reveal a
secret; to put one’s foot in it. See Cat, and add following quots.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xxiv. ‘I’m most afraid
of your father, though, letting the cat out of the bag; he’s such
an old duffer to blow.’
1892. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 27 Feb., p. 67, col. 3. Cats,
however, possess an exceptional faculty for letting things out of
the bag, and Guy’s and Violet’s feline made its appearance.
To let daylight into, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To stab or shoot; to
kill. See Second-hand daylight and Daylight.
To let down gently (or easy), verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To be
lenient.
1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1840, p. 140]. I did
not know it, nor did I believe it, but, by way of letting him down
gently, I said nothing.
1888. New York Sunday Despatch. If the royal parents wish to see
their offsprings let down easy from their high estate, they will
adopt this course.