lek
noun
a traditional place where males assemble during the mating season and engage in competitive displays that attract females.
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lek
1 American
[lek]
/ lɛk /
noun
verb (used without object)
lekked,
lekking
lek
2
American
[lek]
/ lɛk /
noun
Lek
3
American
[lek]
/ lɛk /
noun
lek
1
British
/ lɛk /
noun
-
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
lek
2
British
/ lɛk /
noun
Etymology
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
Origin of lek2
Borrowed into English from Albanian around 1925–30
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.
See Examples For:
On April 23, Vold took the Statesman to an Owyhees lek before dawn.
From Seattle Times ● May 27, 2024
These wild chickens are figuratively as well as literally colorful: When the males decide to court females, they gather in an area of either bare ground or short foliage called a "booming groundor lek."
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2023
In a lek, each male has a territory, and the females shop around.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2019
A male sage grouse struts his stuff in what’s known as a lek, a group of males trying to attract females.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 10, 2018
When they were done, they followed us on the path, singing one of S. E. Rogie’s songs, “Nor look me bad eye, nor weigh me lek dat...”
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
Long Beach-born Cambodian American painter Tidawhitney Lek has canvases on view in the Hammer’s biennial and a solo show at the Long Beach Museum of Art.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
“When I started painting my family in my home, it was literally tackling things I’d been wanting to talk to them about,” says Lek.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
Art was important to Lek from an early age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
Yet he and his keeper, or mahout, Sornsiri "Lek" Sapmak, are in trouble.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2023
Hurriedly she threw herself into a discussion with him as to whether we were now in the Lek or the Maas.
From The Chauffeur and the Chaperon by Karl Anderson
Others appear to participate in lekking behavior, in which two or more males will perform for a female — duking it out through courtship displays — to gain her favor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
Mariana Muñoz Romo, a bat biologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute who was not involved in the study, said she wasn’t ready to label the behavior as lekking.
From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2020
Fallow are famous for lekking, which means they put on spectacular shows during the mid-October rut.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 3, 2019
These males don’t shy away from competition and will use the same lekking ground for years.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 10, 2018
High costs of female choice in a lekking lizard.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 17, 2012
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