Lead line

Lead line
Lead Lead (l[e^]d), n. [OE. led, leed, lead, AS. le['a]d; akin to D. lood, MHG. l[=o]t, G. loth plummet, sounding lead, small weight, Sw. & Dan. lod. [root]123.] 1. (Chem.) One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible (melting point 327.5[deg] C), forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82. Atomic weight, 207.2. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide. [1913 Webster]

2. An article made of lead or an alloy of lead; as: (a) A plummet or mass of lead, used in sounding at sea. (b) (Print.) A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing. (c) Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs; hence, pl., a roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates. [1913 Webster]

I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top. --Bacon [1913 Webster]

3. A small cylinder of black lead or graphite, used in pencils. [1913 Webster]

{Black lead}, graphite or plumbago; -- so called from its leadlike appearance and streak. [Colloq.]

{Coasting lead}, a sounding lead intermediate in weight between a hand lead and deep-sea lead.

{Deep-sea lead}, the heaviest of sounding leads, used in water exceeding a hundred fathoms in depth. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.

{Hand lead}, a small lead use for sounding in shallow water.

{Krems lead}, {Kremnitz lead} [so called from Krems or Kremnitz, in Austria], a pure variety of white lead, formed into tablets, and called also {Krems white}, or {Kremnitz white}, and {Vienna white}.

{Lead arming}, tallow put in the hollow of a sounding lead. See {To arm the lead} (below).

{Lead colic}. See under {Colic}.

{Lead color}, a deep bluish gray color, like tarnished lead.

{Lead glance}. (Min.) Same as {Galena}.

{Lead line} (a) (Med.) A dark line along the gums produced by a deposit of metallic lead, due to lead poisoning. (b) (Naut.) A sounding line.

{Lead mill}, a leaden polishing wheel, used by lapidaries.

{Lead ocher} (Min.), a massive sulphur-yellow oxide of lead. Same as {Massicot}.

{Lead pencil}, a pencil of which the marking material is graphite (black lead).

{Lead plant} (Bot.), a low leguminous plant, genus {Amorpha} ({Amorpha canescens}), found in the Northwestern United States, where its presence is supposed to indicate lead ore. --Gray.

{Lead tree}. (a) (Bot.) A West Indian name for the tropical, leguminous tree, {Leuc[ae]na glauca}; -- probably so called from the glaucous color of the foliage. (b) (Chem.) Lead crystallized in arborescent forms from a solution of some lead salt, as by suspending a strip of zinc in lead acetate.

{Mock lead}, a miner's term for blende.

{Red lead}, a scarlet, crystalline, granular powder, consisting of minium when pure, but commonly containing several of the oxides of lead. It is used as a paint or cement and also as an ingredient of flint glass.

{Red lead ore} (Min.), crocoite.

{Sugar of lead}, acetate of lead.

{To arm the lead}, to fill the hollow in the bottom of a sounding lead with tallow in order to discover the nature of the bottom by the substances adhering. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.

{To cast the lead}, or {To heave the lead}, to cast the sounding lead for ascertaining the depth of water.

{White lead}, hydrated carbonate of lead, obtained as a white, amorphous powder, and much used as an ingredient of white paint. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • lead line — lead′ line [[t]lɛd[/t]] n. naut. navig. a line by which a lead is lowered into the water to take soundings • Etymology: 1475–85 …   From formal English to slang

  • lead line — [led] n. Naut. a line with a lead weight at one end, used for measuring the depth of water …   English World dictionary

  • lead-line — leadˈ line noun 1. A sounding line (nautical) 2. Any of the lines on a stained glass cartoon indicating where the leads will lie in the finished work • • • Main Entry: ↑lead …   Useful english dictionary

  • Lead line — may refer to: *Sounding line *Leash …   Wikipedia

  • lead line — noun (nautical) plumb line for determining depth • Syn: ↑sounding line • Topics: ↑seafaring, ↑navigation, ↑sailing • Hypernyms: ↑plumb line, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • lead line — 1) the line at the bottom of a net with a series of lead weights used to keep the net low in the water or on the bottom and to maintain the net s shape 2) a weighted line used …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • lead line — a gray or bluish black line at the gingival margin in lead poisoning, seen especially in patients with poor oral hygiene; it is similar to the bismuth line, but is somewhat more diffuse. Called also blue l. and Burton l. or sign …   Medical dictionary

  • lead line — /led/, Naut. a line by which a lead is lowered into the water to take soundings: in deep sea practice, divided into levels one fathom apart, variously treated as marks and deeps. [1475 85] * * * …   Universalium

  • lead line — noun Date: 15th century sounding line …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • lead line — n. (Nautical) plumb line use to determine depth of water …   English contemporary dictionary

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