ley

See also: Ley and leþ

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leɪ/, /liː/
  • Rhymes: -eɪ, -iː

Noun

ley (countable and uncountable, plural leys)

  1. Alternative spelling of lea
  2. Archaic form of lye.
  3. A ley line.
    • 2010, Philip Carr-Gomm, ‎Richard Heygate, The Book of English Magic
      For a ley hunter, local people – particularly the elderly – can be mines of information. Devereux and Thomson recount how they asked a septuagenarian in a remote village the location of an elusive stone, without mentioning the subject of leys: []
  4. (obsolete) law
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Abbott to this entry?)

Adjective

ley (not comparable)

  1. (agriculture) fallow; unseeded.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)
  2. (agriculture) Rotated to pasture instead of cropping.

Anagrams


Interlingue

Noun

ley (plural leyes)

  1. (obsolete) law

Synonyms


Middle English

Etymology

From Old English lēah, lēaġe (a clearing in the woods).

Noun

ley (plural leys)

  1. an open field or meadow

Descendants


Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin lēgem, accusative of lēx. Compare Old French lei, loi.

Noun

ley f (oblique plural leys, nominative singular ley, nominative plural leys)

  1. law

Descendants


Portuguese

Noun

ley f (plural leys)

  1. Obsolete spelling of lei

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin lēgem, singular accusative of lēx, from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s, from *leǵ- (to gather).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lei̯/, [le̞i̯]

Noun

ley f (plural leyes)

  1. law (a well-established characteristic of nature)
  2. law (body of rules issued by a legislative body)
  3. law (particular piece of legislation)
  4. religion, credence, worship of a god

Derived terms

  • quebraley

Further reading

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