lea

¹ American  

[lee, ley] / li, leɪ /

Also ley

noun

1. a tract of open ground, especially grassland; meadow.

2. land used for a few years for pasture or for growing hay, then plowed over and replaced by another crop.

3. a crop of hay on tillable land.

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adjective

1. untilled; fallow.

lea ² American  

[lee] / li /

noun

1. 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).

2. 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.

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Lea ³ American  

[lee, lee-uh] / li, ˈli ə /

noun

1. Homer, 1876–1912, U.S. soldier and author: adviser 1911–12 to Sun Yat-sen in China.

2. a female given name, form of Leah or Lee.

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lea. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. league.

2. leather.

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lea ¹ British  

/ liː /

noun

1. poetic a meadow or field

2. land that has been sown with grass seed

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lea ² British  

/ liː /

noun

1. 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

2. a measure of yarn expressed as the length per unit weight, usually the number of leas per pound

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LEA ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Local Education Authority

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Etymology

Origin of lea¹

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

Origin of lea²

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

Example Sentences

Alongside him has been Michael Ellam, who returned to government in January to lea, at an officials-level, the negotiations with the EU.

From BBC

Below us, the mountains rested under a knitted duvet of forest green, its smoothness only occasionally disturbed by the dropped stitch of a house or a small pea-green lea.

From Washington Post

It was a very grey day; a most opaque sky, “onding on snaw,” canopied all; thence flakes fell at intervals, which settled on the hard path and on the hoary lea without melting.

From Literature

And flow down to the vales and leas;

From Washington Times

"I don't care if men want me. To be found beautiful by other women is worth more leas than affection from any man," the injured woman snaps back.

From Literature

Related Words

• farmland
• garden
• grassland
• green
• ground
• meadow
• pasture
• range
• terrain
• territory