leaden

English

Etymology

From Middle English leden, leaden, from Old English lēaden (“leaden, of lead”), equivalent to lead +‎ -en. Cognate with West Frisian leaden (“leaden”), Dutch loden (“leaden”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛdən/
• Rhymes: -ɛdən

Adjective

leaden (comparative more leaden, superlative most leaden)

1. (dated) Made of lead.
2. Pertaining to or resembling lead; grey, heavy, sluggish.
   • 1819, John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, , published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 109:

     Where but to think is to be full of sorrow / And leaden-eyed despairs, / Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, / Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

   • 1818-1819, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo

     if man be
     The passive thing you say, I should not see
     Much harm in the religions and old saws
     (Tho' I may never own such leaden laws)
     Which break a teachless nature to the yoke.

3. Dull; darkened with overcast.

   Synonyms: faint, wan; see also Thesaurus:dim

   the sky was leaden and thick

   • 1999: Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 31 (2001 Perennial paperback edition)

     "It was at the end of February..., when the world was cold..., when icy rains fell from the leaden skies in continual drizzling showers."

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

leaden (third-person singular simple present leadens, present participle leadening, simple past and past participle leadened)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become dull or overcast.

Anagrams

• Delena, andele, aneled, leaned, nealed

Middle English

Etymology 1

Verb

leaden

1. Alternative form of leden (“to lead”)

Etymology 2

Adjective

leaden

1. Alternative form of leden (“leaden”)

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæ͜ɑː.den/

Adjective

lēaden

1. Alternative form of līeden

Declension