laitB 
laits (lats), ii. Same as 
laity (lii'i-ti), . [< '// 4 + -'.</ ( H"icti/, < 
tf'i.i/ 1 )-] It- T' IP state of being a layman, or of 
not being in orders. 
The limn 1 usual cause of this deprivation lsaniere(i(//, 
or want of holy orders. Ayliffe, PttOfOn. 
2. The people, as distinguished from the clergy; 
the body of the people not in orders; laymen 
collectively. 
If personal defailance bo thought reasonable to disem- 
ploy the wholucnllhig, then neither clergy nor faity should 
ever serve a prince. Jer. Taylor, Works (eU. 1835), II. 245. 
3. The people outside of a particular profession, 
as distinguished from those belonging to it; 
persons unskilled in a particular art or science, 
as distinguished from those who are profession- 
ally conversant with it. 
What . . . could be more absurd than for one of the 
In it it to attempt to measure and weigh stars many millions 
of millions of miles removed from his grasp? 
a. H. Lewes, Probe, of Life and Mind, Int., I. i. ; -JO. 
lakt, . and v. A Middle English form of 
lake 1 (lak), n. [< ME. lake, a lake, a stream. < 
AS. lacti, a lake, pool ; merged in ME. with AF. 
lake, lak, OF. tec, P. tec = Sp. Pg. It. lago; < L. 
locus, a large body of water, a basin, tank, or cis- 
tern of water, pit, hollow, = Gr. '^OKKOC, a hole, 
pit, pond; =Ir. Gael, locli (> AS. lull, E. lough, 
He. loch) = W. llwch = Corn, lo = Bret, loach, 
a lake (see loch and lough, which are thus ult. 
identical with lake), = AS. lagu, lago (> ME. 
laie, laye, etc.: see toy 8 ) = OS. lugu (in comp.) 
= Icel. loijr, the sea, water: also in AS. lagu 
= OHG. tagu = Icel. lo'gr = Goth, lagus, the 
name of the Runic form of the letter L. Cf. 
tecAc 2 , latch*, leach 3 , a pit, etc.] 1. A body 
of water surrounded by land, or not forming 
part of the ocean and occupying a depression 
below the ordinary drainage-level of the region. 
Lakea are depressions or basins filled by streams flowing 
into them, the water thus introduced generally accumu- 
lating until it runs over at the lowest point of the edge of 
the depression, and then flowing to the sea. But in some 
cases a river may till u number of such depressions in suc- 
cession before reaching the sea, as is very notably the case 
with the chain of lakes and rivers beginning with Lake 
Superior and ending in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 
larger depressions which when tilled with water become 
lakes are ordinarily orographie in character that is, they 
owe their origin to movements of the earth's crust, In the 
same manner as mountain-ranges. Many smaller lakes, 
however, especially the shallower ones, nil depressions 
which have originated from local or less general causes, as 
when produced by unequal decay or erosion of rocks, or by 
irregular distribution of surface detritus. The existence 
of a depression being given, the question whether it shall 
be entirely tilled with water Is one of climate. In regions 
of small rainfall and large evaporation, depressions occur 
which do not become filled with water, and consequently 
do not furnish any surplus which shall overflow and run 
to the sea. Such regions, having no drainage to the sea, 
are called cloned boning, and there are very large areas of 
this character in Asia and North America, and smaller 
ones elsewhere. The water in tae lakes occupying the 
lowest portion of such depressions is always more or less 
saline, because that which is brought in leaves as it evapo- 
rates a constantly accumulating store of the saline mat- 
ters which it holds in solution. The Caspian Sea is prop- 
erly a salt lake; and some lakes are excessively salt, as 
the Great Halt Lake in Utah and the Dead Sea (also prop- 
erly a lake). There are lakes of considerable size, as sev- 
eral in Canada, which have no visible inlets, being fed en- 
tirely from subterranean sources. 
Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing taken and groves. 
Shale., Tempest, v. 1. 33. 
So stretch'd out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay 
Chain'd on the burning lake. Milton, P. L, i. 210. 
2. A relatively small pond partly or wholly ar- 
tificial, as an ornament of a park or of public 
or private grounds. 
At Timon'a villa let us pass a day. . . . 
Two Cupids squirt before : a lake behind 
Improves the keenness of the northern wind. 
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 111. 
3. A stream; rivulet. [Prov. Eng.] 4f. A pit; 
den. 
And set hym in ye lake of lyons where Danyell the 
prophete was, and refresshed hym with mete and drynke. 
Sir K. Quylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 35. 
Galilean lake. See aJrtmi.-Lady of the laket. 
See lady. Lake School, in Eng. lit., a name given to 
a group of poets including Wordsworth, Coleridge, and 
Southey, from their residence in or connection with the 
lake country of England (Cumberland, Westmoreland, 
and Lancashire): first given in derision by the "Edin- 
burgh Review." The Great Lakes, specifically, the five 
North American lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, 
and Ontario, which form the largest chain of lakes in the 
world. They discharge into the river St. Lawrence, In the 
basin of which they are included by geographers, and 
which is itself sometimes reckoned as beginning with the 
St. Louis, the head stream of Lake Superior. 
lake 2 (lak), v. i.; pret. and pp. lakcd, ppr. tak- 
ing. [Also tail; and, by corruption, lark 2 , q. v. ; 
< ME. lake, laikcn, la'yken, < AS. /(iron (pret. 
leolc, lee. pp. /) swing, wave, float (as a 
ship), flutter (as a bird), play, sport, play (an 
instrument) (chiefly a poet, word), = MHG. 
3333 
leichen = Icel. leika = Goth, laikan (pret. 
Ifnlaik), leap, dance. Cf. lake?, n. The word 
now exists only in dial, use in the Northern 
form lake, laik (or in the corrupt form ter/,-), 
instead of the reg. Southern form lake.} To 
play; sport; trifle; "lark." [Old and prov. 
Eng.] 
Nuw. li-uo Hir, l:itt: noman wete 
How this losell liKjkix with his lorde. 
York Playi, p. 230. 
lake- (lak), . [Also laik and, corruptly, In >/.-, 
q. v. ; < ME. lake, laik. layke, also loke, play, 
sport, gift, < AS. lac, play (battle-play), strug- 
gle, an offering, gilt, present, medicine, = 
(joth. laiks, a dance ; from the verb: see lake-, 
o. Hence ult. leechi, leech*, and loke* (a var. of 
lake' 2 ), and -lock in wedlock.] 1. Play; sport; 
game. [Old and prov. Eug.] 
Thanne were his felawea fain for he was adradde, 
& laugedeu of that gode layk. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. 8.X I. 1784. 
~t. A contest; a fight. 
Thow salle lose this layke, and thl lyfe aftyre 1 
Thow has lytfede in delytte and lordchippes inewe ! 
Morte Arthur* (E. E. T. 8.X L 3887. 
lake 3 (lak), i. [< P. laque, lac, < Pers. lak, lake, 
< lak, lac : see lac 2 .] A pigment formed by ab- 
sorbing animal, vegetable, or coal-tar coloring 
matter from an aqueous solution by means of 
metallic bases. The general method of preparation is 
to add an alkali solution to an infusion of the substance 
affording the desired color, as madder, cochineal, logwood, 
or quercitron. To this is added a solution of common alum, 
producing a precipitate of alumina, which In settling car- 
ries with it the coloring matter, thus forming the hike. As 
paints, lakes lack body, and are mostly used in glazing 
over other colors. From cochineal is prepared carmine, 
the finest of the red lakes. Crimson lake is a cochineal 
lake containing more aluminous base than carmine. Car- 
minated lake is the cheaper and weaker lake made from 
cochineal after the carmine has been extracted. Scar. 
let lake is prepared by mixing vermilion with crimson lake. 
Purple lake is a species of crimson lake with a purple hue. 
Madder laket are produced by precipitating the coloring 
matter of the madder-root with an alumina base. They 
range In color from light pink through red to brown and 
purple. Indian lake is the same as lac-lake (which see, 
under lac-). Yellow lake is made from quercitron-bark, 
sometimes from Persian or French Avignon berries, a reen 
lake is compounded by adding Prussian blue to yellow lake. 
Citrine lake is an obsolete term for brown pink. Burnt 
lake is obtained by partially charring crimson lake. From 
logwood are obtained lakes of various shades of deep- 
brownish red, as rose lake, Florence lake, Florentine lake, 
etc. From certain of the coal-tar colors are obtained lakes 
almost identical in color with cochineal and madder and 
equal in permanency. 
Iake 4 t (lak), n. [ME., < OD. lalcen, D. taken, 
linen, cloth, a sheet, = OS. tecan = MLG. taken, 
cloth, = OHG. lakhan. lachan, MHG. laclien, G. 
taken = Icel. lakan = Dan. lageit = Sw. lakan, a 
sheet.] A kind of fine white linen. 
Be dide next his white lere 
Of cloth of lake fyn and clere 
A breech and eek a sherte. 
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 147. 
lake 6 (lak), r. A dialectal form of leak. 
lake 6 (lak), n. An obsolete or dialectal form of 
Ye've married een below our degree, 
A lake to a' our kin, O. 
Laird of Drum (Child's Ballads, IV. 120). 
lake-dweller (lak'dwel'er), n. Alacustriau; 
an inhabitant of a lake-dwelling or lacustrine 
village. 
lake-dwelling (lak'dwel'ing), w. A dwelling 
built on piles or other support over the water of 
a lake or other body of water. The name was first 
applied to remains of prehistoric dwellings discovered in 
recent times at the bottom of many lakes of Switzerland, 
and is now used for similar structures anywhere, whether 
ancient or modern. In the Swiss lakes, as In most other 
examples, a number of dwellings, forming a lacustrine 
village, were built together on a platform resting either 
upon piles or upon layers of fascines supported by stakes, 
and appear generally to have been connected with the 
shore by a bridge. Many Implements of bone, flint, 
lakin 
lake-fever (lak'fe'ver), . Malarial fever. 
[Local, U. S.] 
lake-fly (lak'fli), . An ephemerid, Ephemera 
xini ill nun, which swarms on the Great Lakes late 
in July. [U.S.] 
lake-herring (lak'her'ing), . A variety of the 
cisco. 
lake-lawyer (lak'la'yer), w. [So called in al- 
lusion to its voracity. Cf. sea-lawyer, a shark.] 
1. A gadoid fish, Lota maculosa, better known 
as the burbot. Also called tcentern mudfish. 
[Lake region, U. 8.] 2. The bowfin or mud- 
fish, Amia calva. 
lakelet (lak'let), n. [< tai-fi + -let.] A little 
lake. 
The Chateau de Versailles, ending In royal park* and 
pleasanccH, gleaming lakelet*, arbours, labyrinths. 
Carlyle, French Rev., L viL 6. 
Nlcollet . . . considered none of the tributary lakelet* 
he had eiplored as sufficiently Important to even merit a 
name. Science, VIII. 144. 
Laker 1 (la'ker), n. [< teA-ei + -!.] 1. One 
of the Lake School of poetry : generally used 
contemptuously. Also Lakist. 
And now, my Epic Renegade ! what are ye at? 
With all the Laken, in and out of place? 
Byron, Don Juan, Ded., it 1. 
2. [/. c.~\ A fish of or taken from a lake ; specifi- 
cally, the lake-trout of North America, Salveli- 
nus (Cristii'omcr) namayciish. See lake-trout, 2. 
laker 2 (la'ker), . [< lake' 2 + -tr*.] A player; 
an actor. [Prov. Eng.] 
lakeringt, n. [ME. lakeryng; < lake 2 (laker 2 ) 
+ -ing 1 .] Playing; sport; jesting. 
Ther was lauhyng & lakeryng and "let go the coppe ! " 
Piers Plowman (C), vil. 394. 
lake-shad (lak'shad), n. One of several differ- 
ent inferior fishes, as suckers, etc.: a commer- 
cial name under which the prepared fish are 
sold. [Lake region, U. S.] 
lake-sturgeon (lak'ster'jon), . The common 
fresh-water sturgeon of North America, ^ct- 
penser rubicundus. Also called black sturgeon, 
Ohio sturgeon, rock-sturgeon, and stone-sturgeon. 
lake-trout (lak'trout), . 1. The common sal- 
mon-trout of western North America, Salmo 
purpuratus; the Rocky Mountain brook-trout; 
the Yellowstone trout. It is one of the river-salmon, 
not anadromous, and belongs to the section r'urin of the 
genus Salmo. It has a narrow band of small teeth on the 
hyold bone. The caudal fin is slightly forked ; the dorsal 
rather low. It is extremely variable in size, coloration, 
and character of the scales. It may be generally recog- 
nized by the profusion of small round black spots on most 
of the body, and a red Mutch on the lower Jaw. It is re- 
garded as the parent stock of several varieties of black- 
spotted trout. It abounds in the rivers of Alaska, Oregon, 
and Washington, there descending to the sea, and some- 
times attains a weight of 20 pounds ; it is also found in 
the Yellowstone and upper Missouri regions, the Great 
Basin of Utah, in Colorado, and in the upper Rio Grande. 
The Waha lake-trout of Washington Is a variety (onurieri\ 
of this species. Another variety, found from the Kansas to 
the upper Missouri, is called var. gtmnias. A third is var. 
heiwhairi, the silver or black trout of Lake Tahoe, Pyra- 
mid Lake, and the streams of the Sierra Nevada. The va- 
riations of this fish have given rise to many technical 
names, among them Salmo ttuppitch. See cut under ml- 
mon-tr&ut. 
2. The Mackinaw trout, Salvelinus namaycush, 
more fully called the great lake-trout; the longe 
of Vermont; the togue of Maine. This is an en- 
tirely different fish from the foregoing, being near a char. 
Lake-dwellings, restored. From Troyon. 
bronze, and iron, pottery, and other objects, and some hu- 
man remains, have been found in these ancient deposits. 
Similar habitations are still used in various parts of the 
world. In Ireland and Scotland, where they were occu- 
pied within historic times, they are called crannoyt. See 
craniwij and palafitte. 
Great Lake-trout, or Mackinaw Trout (Salvelmiu namaytusk->, 
The mouth is large, with very strong teeth ; the caudal 
tin Is well forked, the adipose small ; the color Is dark 
gray, sometimes pale, sometimes blackish, everywhere 
marked with rounded paler spot, often tinged with red- 
dish. This fish sometimes attains a length of 8 feet : 
it abounds in the larger bodies of water of Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, northern New York, and the Great 
Lake region, to Montana and northward. A variety of this, 
found only in Lake Superior, is known as the tuvmret. 
lakewaket.n. Same as liketcake. Bourne's Pop. 
Antiq.(n7l), p. 21. 
lake-weed (lak' wed), n. The water-peprjer, Po- 
lygonum Hydropiper, a plant growing in still 
water. The name is also loosely applied to other 
lacustrine plants. [Eng.] 
lake-whiting (lak'whi'ting), n. The Musquaw 
river whitefish, Coregonus labradoricus. 
lakh, . See lac*. 
lakin 1 (la'kin), n. [< ME. lakyne, lakayn; ap- 
par. irreg. (for laking f) < lake 2 , play: see lake 2 .] 
A plaything; a toy. [Old and prov. Eng.] 
