lek1
[lek]Animal Behavior
- a traditional place where males assemble during the mating season and engage in competitive displays that attract females.
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- (of a male) to assemble in a lek and engage in competitive displays.
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Origin of lek1
1865–70; < Swedish: mating ground (perhaps elliptically from lekställe), mating, game, play, Old Norse leikr play, cognate with Old English lāc struggle, offering, gift, Gothic laiks dance, Old High German leih melody
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
lek1
- a small area in which birds of certain species, notably the black grouse, gather for sexual display and courtship
- the act or practice of so gathering
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Word Origin
C19: perhaps from dialect lake (vb) from Old English lácan to frolic, fight, or perhaps from Swedish leka to play
lek2
- the standard monetary unit of Albania, divided into 100 qindarka
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Word Origin
from Albanian
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for lekking
lek
v.
to engage in courtship displays of certain animals, 1871, probably from Swedish leka "to play," cognate of English dialectal verb lake (see lark (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper