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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.
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Also ley [ley, lee] /leɪ, li/ .

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

Words nearby lea

LDPE, LDR, L-driver, L.D.S., -le, lea, leach, leachate, leaching, leachy, Leacock

Other definitions for lea (2 of 4)

lea2
[ 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

Other definitions 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.

Other definitions for lea (4 of 4)

lea.
abbreviation
league.
leather.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to lea

farmland, garden, grassland, green, ground, meadow, pasture, range, terrain, territory, plain, prairie, grass, grazing, acreage, enclosure, glebe, mead, moorland, patch

How to use lea in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lea (1 of 3)

lea1
/ (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)

lea2
/ (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
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