leed

• enPR: lēd, IPA^(key): /liːd/
• Rhymes: -iːd

From Middle English lede, shortened variant of leden (“language”), from Old English lēoden (“popular or national language, native tongue”), from Old English lēod (“people, nation”). Cognate with Scots leed (“language”). More at lede.

leed (plural leeds)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Language; tongue.
2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A national tongue (in contrast to a foreign language).
3. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The speech of a person or class of persons; form of speech; talk; utterance; manner of speaking or writing; phraseology; diction.

• lede

From Middle English lede, led, leod, variant of Middle English leth, leoth (“song, poem”), from Old English lēoþ (“song, poem, ode, lay, verse”), from Proto-Germanic *leuþą (“song, lay, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to sound, resound, sing out”). Cognate with Dutch lied (“song”), German Lied (“song”).

leed (plural leeds)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A strain in a rhyme, song, or poem; refrain; flow.
2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A constant or repeated line or verse; theme.
3. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Patter; rigmarole.

• lied

See lede.

leed (plural lede)

1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of lede (“a man; a person”)
   • p. 1544, “fflodden ffeilde”, in John W Hales, Frederick J Furnivall, [Francis James] Child, W Chappell, et al., editors, Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. Ballads and Romances, volume I, London: N Trübner & Co., , published 1867, →OCLC, page 318, lines 9–12:

     & after to callice hee [Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey] arriued, / like a noble Leed of high degree, / & then to Turwin soone he hyed, / there he thought to haue found King Henery; […]

See lead.

leed

1. Obsolete spelling of lead (“to guide”)..

• Deel, LEDE, deel, dele, lede

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːt

From Middle Dutch lêet, from Old Dutch *lēth, from Proto-Germanic *laiþą, related to *laiþaz (“loath”).

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

leed n (uncountable)

1. grief, sorrow
2. harm

• Afrikaans: leed

From Middle Dutch lêet, from Old Dutch lēth, from Proto-West Germanic *laiþ, from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz.

leed (comparative leder, superlative leedst)

1. (Belgium) angry
2. sad

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

leed

1. singular past indicative of lijden

• deel, dele, edel, lede

From Middle High German leit, from Old High German leid. Cognate with German leid, Dutch leed.

• IPA^(key): /leːt/
• Rhymes: -eːt
• Homophone: Leed

leed

1. (in expressions) grievous; cumbersome

   Ech sinn et leed. — “I’m fed up with it.”

   Dat deet mer leed. — “I’m sorry.”

   Hatt deet mer leed. — “I pity her.”

• Leed

leed

1. Alternative form of lede (“people”)

leed

1. Alternative form of led (“lead”)
   • 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

     That stemed as a forneys of a leed

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• lääs (Mooring)
• leet (Sylt)

From Old Frisian let, from Proto-West Germanic *lat.

leed (comparative leeder, superlative letst)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) late

• leid

From Middle English lede, reduced form of leden, leoden (“language”), from Old English lēoden (“national language”, literally “of the people”), from lēode (“people”). More at lede.

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

leed (plural leeds)

1. language

• Commonly understood language, either literally or metaphorically:

  A daena speak the leed. ― I don't speak the language.

• “lede, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 20 May 2024, reproduced from William A Craigie, A J Aitken , editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “leed, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 20 May 2024, reproduced from W Grant and D D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /leˈed/
• Rhymes: -ed
• Syllabification: le‧ed

leed

1. second-person plural imperative of leer

From Middle English led, from Old English lēad, from Proto-West Germanic *laud.

• IPA^(key): /liːd/

leed

1. lead
   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 102:

     Which maate mee hearth as coale as leed.

     Which made my heart as cold as lead.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 52