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Synonyms

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.

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.
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.

lea. 4 American  

abbreviation

  1. league.

  2. leather.

lea 1 British  
/ liː /

noun

  1. poetic a meadow or field

  2. land that has been sown with grass seed

"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
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

"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
LEA 3 British  

abbreviation

  1. 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

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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 • May 18, 2025

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 • Nov. 4, 2021

Eli Manning, held to 156 yards and five INTs last year in 23-0 Seattle shutout, has 137 yards already as Giants lea 14-7.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2014

Anyone who has taken the ferry across to Stromness may be familiar with the sight of the lighthouse looming out of the mist, just as the ship reaches the lea of the islands.

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2013

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 "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.