Micros 
Egyptian, 
[lypllic. llicr.ni. 
1. Tlio twelfth letter and 
ninth consonant of the Eng- 
lish alphabet. It had a -inn 
lar place in the Latin, Greek, and 
I'henlclan alphabets, from which 
the character has come to UB. 
The scheme of Its forms In those 
alphabets, with the Egyptian char- 
acters from which they are per- 
haps ultimately derived (see A), Is 
as follows : 
Early 
Greek .unl I. itm. 
Plieni 
I I. IN. 
The {-sound is made with the tongue in the same general 
position against the roof of the mouth as d and I and n 
(see these letters); and hence Is called, like them, a den- 
tal (or ginglval, or lingual, or tongue-point) sound. Its 
characteristic peculiarity of utterance is that It involves 
a breach of the close d-position at the side or sides of the 
tongue, the Intonated breath escaping there, while the 
tip of the tongue remains in contact. This breach may 
Ite made on either side of the tongue, or on both sides 
at once : the habits of different Individuals, and perhaps 
of different communities, varying in this regard. Other 
i-sounds. agreeing with ours In the lateral breach of mute 
contact, but differing in the position of the tongue, are 
found in some other languages : as, the palatal I of French 
and Italian (the French I innuilli 1 , now mostly converted 
into a simple y-sound ; the Italian ffl), the lingual or cere- 
bral < of Sanskrit, and so on. /. la the most sonorous and 
continuable, or most vowel-like, of our consonant-sounds ; 
and hence it has come, by the loss of an accompanying 
vowel, to have itself the value of a vowel in a very large 
number of English unaccented syllables especially after 
a mut, as in Jickle, wriggle, bottle, noddle, apple, babbit ; 
less often after consonants of other classes, as In muscle, 
muzzle, raffle, devil, and colloquially in such as kernel, 
gunnel, pommel. The sign I never has any other than its 
own proper sound; but It is silent In a few words, as 
taint, ha\f, talk. In the recent history of our language 
the sound is a peculiarly stable one, hardly exhibiting 
transition Into any other ; more anciently, and in other 
tongues, It exchanges sometimes with </ (as Latin lac- 
rima, Greek Sdnpv), but especially with r (thus, in San- 
skrit, the Us to a large extent a later alternative to an r) ; 
in many French words It appears converted into (as 
maux, plural of mal, beau beside bel, belle, and so on); in 
Italian, after mutes. Into t, as piano. Latin planus, etc. In 
virtue of Its general phonetic character, I is a semivowel 
(so far as that term is admitted), and is often classed as 
such, along with r. or with r and y and w. More popularly, 
It is ranked as a "liquid," with m and n and r, nothing 
more being implied in the classification (a loose and un- 
scientific one) than its special sonorousness and continu- 
abillty. 
2. A symbol (a) in ehrm,, for lithium: also 
Li; (b) in Roman numerals, for 50, and with 
a line drawn above it (C) for 50,000. 3. An 
abbreviation (a) [I. c.] in music, of la (in 
solmization) ; (b) of Latin; (c) in stage-direc- 
tions, of left; (d) [I. c.] of liber, a book, as a 
division of a literary work; (e) [I. c. or cap."] of 
lilirn, pound sterling, when written after the 
figures (when before the figures, it has the con- 
ventional form ): as, 100/. = 100 ; (/) [/.<.] 
in 
references, 
a ship's log-book, of Hnhtning; (g) [f. <.] in 
ferences, of line: as, Milton, Lycidas, I. 72; 
(ft) [i.e.] of logarithm ; (i) [I.e.] ii\astfou.,ot 
loiiilitude (I denoting the heliocentric and />. the 
geocentric longitude); (j) [/. c.] of legc ; (k) 
'[ '<//>. or 1. c.] in aniit., of lumbar: used in ver- 
tebral formulae. The three L's (tuiut.). lead, lati- 
tude, and lookout: a phrase used by seamen to signify 
that a careful use of the first (in Hounding), a kiiowledur 
of the second, and the vigilant performance of the third 
will prevent a vessel from running ashore. 
L 2 (ell), n. [Prop., as a word, spelled ell; from 
the letter L.] 1. A part of a house or other 
structure projecting at a right angle from the 
niiiin body, so as to form with it the figure of 
the letter L : as, the building has an L of 20 feet. 
The milk pans tilted to sun against the underpinning 
of the L. Harper's Mag., I.XXVII. 134. 
2. A rectangularly bent pipe-conuectiou. /-,'. 
H. Knight. Also ell in both senses. 
la 1 (la),'Hter/. [Also law; var. of lo, < AS. Id, 
interj.: see /<>.] An expression of mild ndmi 
ration, wonder, or surprise, and formerly of as- 
severation: as. O la ! that is strange. [Now vul- 
gar.] 
Truly, I will not go first ; trnly, la ! I will not do you that 
wrong. Shot., M. W. of W., L 1, 822. 
La ! miss, why, it Is witchcraft. 
C. Rtade, Love me Little. I. 
La you*, behold ; see there. 
La yon now, you hear! Shale., W. T., 1L 3, 50. 
la 2 (la), n. [See gamut.] In solmizatioti, the syl- 
lable used for the sixth tone of the scale that 
is, the submediant. In the major scale of C this tone 
is A, which is therefore sometimes called la, especially In 
Italy and France. Abbreviated I. 
la 3 (!&) [See le.] The feminine form of the 
definite article in French, occurring in some 
names and phrases used in English. 
La. In chem., the symbol for lanthanum. 
laager (la'ger), M. [D., var. of leger, a camp : 
see leaguer?, lager."] In South Africa, an en- 
campment ; an inclosure for temporary defense 
formed of the wagons of a traveling party. 
laager (la'ger), c. t. [< laager, .] To arrange 
in such a way as to form a defensive inclosure ; 
arrange so as to form a laager: as, to laager 
wagons. [S. African.] 
laast. A Middle English form of lace. 
labt (lab), r. [< ME. labben, < OD. labben, blab, 
tell tales : cf. G. labbe, lip, mouth. Cf. Waft 1 , bab- 
ble.] I. intrans. To blab; babble; tattle. 
Of hlr tonge a laKbtrng shrewe is she. 
Chaucer, 1'rol. to Squire's Tale, 1. 10. 
II. trans. To blab. 
Thyng that wolde be pryue publisshu thow hit neuerc, 
Nother for loue labbe hit out ne lacke hit for non enuye. 
Pien Plowman (C), xlli. 3. 
lab (lab), n. [< ME. labbe; from the verb.] A 
blabber; a tattler; a telltale. [Prov. Eng.] 
I am no labbe, 
Though I it say, I am nought lecf to gabbe. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 323. 
Labadism (lab'a-dizm), n. [< Labadie (see 
Labadist) + -ism.'] The doctrines and prac- 
tices of the Labadists. 
Labadist (lab'a-dist), n. [< Labadie (see def.) 
+ -w.] A follower of Jean de Labadie (1610- 
74), a Jesuit, afterward a mystic Protestant 
preacher in France and Holland. The Labadists 
were Christian communists. Among their tenets were 
denial of the obligation of sabbath observance, on the 
ground that life is a perpetual sabbath ; belief in the di- 
rect influence of the Holy Spirit; and belief in marriage as 
a holy ordinance valid only among believers, the children of 
the regenerate being born without original sin. The sect 
disappeared about the middle of the eighteenth century. 
Labarraque's fluid or solution. See fluid, 
labarum (lab'a-rum), n. [LL., inLGr. " '." . . 
also %d(i<jpov, /.diiovpov; origin obscure ; accord- 
ing to Baillet (Diet. 
Celtique), < Basque 
labaria, a standard ; 
according to Larra- 
mendi (Dice, trilin- 
gue), of Cantabrian 
origin, < laubaru, any- 
thing with four heads 
or limbs, such as the 
cruciform framework 
of a military standard . 
Cf. LL. cantabntm, a 
standard, a variant 
reading of labarum in 
some passages, neut. 
of Ctnto6er,Cantabri- 
an, pi. Cantabri, the 
Cantabrians: seeCan- 
tabrian.] 1. A Ro- 
man military stan- 
dard adopted by the 
later emperors as the 
imperial standard. 
It consisted of a staff or 
lance carrying a purple 
ar. This 
Ecclesiastical Labarum. 
banner on a cross-bar. 
banner usually bore the effigy of the general or emperor ; 
but Constantino the Great, after his conversion, placed 
upon it, woven in gold, the cross and the monogram (chris- 
ma)or emblem of Christ, - or j?, consisting of the Greek 
letters XP (Ohr), standing for Christ. In later times the 
HU 
name was given to the monogram lUelf, or to the crow in 
the monogram. 
2. A standard or banner of similar form, borne, 
in ecclesiasticalprocessions of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church. 3. Figuratively, a moral stan- 
dard, guide, or device. 
It Is now the l':uf:ins who have seized the labanim of 
duty and self-sacrifice. F. P. Cobbe, Peak In Darlen, p. 5. 
Labatia (la-bat'i-ii), n. [NL. (Swartz, 1797), 
named after a French monk and botanist Jean 
Baptiste iMbat.] A genus of tropical Ameri- 
can trees belonging to the gamopetalous order 
.Sanotacetr, tribe I'oitterietr, having a 4-parted 
calyx, 5 fertile and 5 abortive stamens, a 4-celled 
ovary, and fleshy fruit . Five species are known, 
natives of the West Indies and Brazil. 
labbe 1 !-, . A Middle English form of lab. 
labbe' 2 t, la-beet. A contraction or corruption 
otlvtbe. See let" 1 . Chaucer. 
Heel purchase Induction by simony, 
And offers her money her Incumbent to be. 
But still she replied, good sir, In In,; 
If ever I have a man. square-cap for me. 
CleatelaiKl, Poems (1561). (Kara.) 
labber (lab'er), r. [Prob. for "tapper, freq. of 
I1> 1 -1 I. trans. 1. To lick; lap. 2. To splash. 
[Prov. Eng. in both senses.] 
13. iHtrans. 1. To bathe. 2. To loll out 
the tongue. Halliwetl. [Prov. Eng.] 
labdanum (lab'da-num), . See ladaiivm. 
labecedization (fa-ba-sa-di-za'shon), n. [< In 
+ be + ce + rfe(see bebtzation) + -i;e + -ation.] 
Same as bebization. 
la-beet. [ME.] See labbe*. 
labefactation (lab^e-fak-ta'shon), n. [< L. la- 
bcfactatio(n-), a shaking, loosening,< tabefacere, 
cause to totter, shake: see labefaction.] A 
weakening or loosening; a failing; decay; 
downfall; ruin. [Rare.] 
There is in It (the "Beggar's Opera"] such a labe/acta- 
lion of all principles as may be injurious to morality. 
Johiuan, in Boswell (ed. 1791X I. 527. 
labefaction (lab-e-fak'shon), . [= OF. labe- 
faction, < L. as if f labcfactio(>i-), < labcfacerc, 
pp. labefactus, cause to totter, shake, weaken : 
see labcfy.] Same as labefactation. 
To private difficulties and causes of labefaction, such as 
these, must be added several notable measures of confis- 
cation which took place within the same limits of time. 
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., v. 
labefy (lab'e-fi), r. t.; pret. and pp. labcjied, 
ppr. labefyin'g. [< L. lubcfacere, cause to tot- 
ter, shake, weaken. < labare, totter, give way, 
+ facere, do, make.] To weaken or loosen ; en- 
feeble; impair. [Rare.] 
label 1 (la'bel). n. [< ME. label, labell, labelle, la- 
blel, < OF. label, labeau, also, with an inserted 
liquid or nasal, lambel, lembel, lambeau (ML. re- 
flex labeling, labella, lablellus, lambellus), a rag, 
tatter, shred, F. lambeau. shred, piece, strip, 
flap, with dim. suffix,< OHO. lappa, MHG. lappe, 
G. lappcn, a rag, shred, = AS. la-ppa, lappa, a 
lap, flap, fold : see laift. Cf . lapel, ult. = label. ] 
If. A small loosely hanging flap ; specifically, 
a pendant like a broad ribbon hanging from a 
head-dress; a lappet. 
And a knit night cap made of coarsest twine, 
With two long label* button'd to his chin. 
Bp. Hall, Satires, IV. ii. 24. 
The Priest*' habit*. Long robes of white taffeta : long 
white heads of hair; the High- Priest a cap of white silk 
shag close to his head, with two label* at the ears. 
Beaumont, Masque of Inner- Temple. 
2. In her. : (a) One of the ribbons that hang 
down from a miter or the electoral crown. See 
inMa, 3 (b). (b) A fillet resembling a barrulet 
with three or more pendent drops or points, 
which were originally straight with parallel 
sides, but are now usually shaped like a 
dovetail. It Is used as a bearing, but especially as 
a difference, as In cadency, to indicate the oldest son. 
Some authorities say that the label when used for 
cadency should have seven point* while the great-grand- 
father of the bearer Is alive, five while his grandfather 
is alive, and three while the father lives. In nearly all 
