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definitions

lea

1
[ lee, ley ]
/ li, leɪ /
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noun

a tract of open ground, especially grassland; meadow.
land used for a few years for pasture or for growing hay, then plowed over and replaced by another crop.
a crop of hay on tillable land.

adjective

untilled; fallow.

RELATED WORDS

grassland, pasture, prairie, plain, grass, meadow, grazing, territory, terrain, range, green, ground, garden, farmland, rug, steppe, carpet, pasturage, heath, mead

Nearby words

le sage, le sage, alain rené, le touquet, le vau, le vau, louis, lea, lea-rig, lea., leach, leachate, leaching
Also ley.

Origin of lea

1
before 900; Middle English lege, lei, Old English lēah; cognate with Old High German lōh, dialectal Dutch loo (as in Waterloo), Latin lūcus

Definition for lea (2 of 4)

lea

2
[ lee ]
/ li /

noun

a measure of yarn of varying quantity, for wool usually 80 yards (73 meters), cotton and silk 120 yards (110 meters), linen 300 yards (274 meters).
Textiles.
  1. a unit length used to ascertain the linear density of yarns.
  2. a count or number representing units of linear measure per pound in linen or cotton yarn: a 20-lea yarn.

Origin of lea

2
1350–1400; perhaps back formation from Middle English lese, variant of leash

Definition for lea (3 of 4)

Lea

[ lee for 1; lee-uh for 2 ]
/ li for 1; ˈli ə for 2 /

noun

Homer,1876–1912, U.S. soldier and author: adviser 1911–12 to Sun Yat-sen in China.
a female given name, form of Leah or Lee.

Definition for lea (4 of 4)

lea.

league.
leather.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lea

British Dictionary definitions for lea (1 of 3)

lea

1
/ (liː) /

noun

poetic a meadow or field
land that has been sown with grass seed

Word Origin for lea

Old English lēah; related to German dialect loh thicket

British Dictionary definitions for lea (2 of 3)

lea

2
/ (liː) /

noun

a unit for measuring lengths of yarn, usually taken as 80 yards for wool, 120 yards for cotton and silk, and 300 yards for linen
a measure of yarn expressed as the length per unit weight, usually the number of leas per pound

Word Origin for lea

C14: of uncertain origin

British Dictionary definitions for lea (3 of 3)

LEA

abbreviation for (in Britain)

Local Education Authority
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lea

lea

n.

Old English leah "open field, meadow, piece of untilled ground," earlier læch, recorded in place names, from Proto-Germanic *laukhaz (cf. Old High German loh "cluster of bushes," and probably also Flemish -loo, which forms the second element in Waterloo), from PIE *louquo- (cf. Sanskrit lokah "open space," Latin lucus "grove," Lithuanian laukas "open field"), perhaps from or related to *leuk- "to shine, be bright" (see light (n.)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper