of Lords are brought for decision before a specially con- 
stituted court. See lord of appeal in ordinary. 
They [the Peers] sit only during half the year. The law- 
lords, whose advice is required to guide the unlearned 
majority, are employed daily in administering justice else- 
where. Macaulay, Warren Hastings. 
2. A judge of the Court of Session, the supreme 
court of Scotland. 
lawing 
2!. The practice or act of cutting off the claws 
and balls of the feet of an animal, as of the fore 
feet of a dog, to incapacitate it from following 
game. See law 1 , v. t., 4. 
And such lawing shal be done by the assise commonly 
used : that is to say, that iii. clawes of the forefoote shall 
bee cut off by the skin. 
Rastall, Collect, of Statutes, fol. 185, iv. . 
The cruel mutilation, the lawing as it was called, of all lawly! (la ll), a. [< ME lawelyche, < AS labhc 
dogs in the neighbourhood of the royal forests. (= Icel. logltgr = Sw. laghg = Dan. lovhg), law- 
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, v. 108. f u l, < lagu, law : see law 1 and -ly 1 .] Lawful. 
3. A reckoning at a public house ; a tavern- lawly! (la'li), adv. [< ME. laweliche, lagelice, 
bill. Also lawin. [Scotch.] < AS. lahlice(= Icel. logliga), lawfully, < lahltc, 
Late at e'en, drinking the wine, , lawful : see lawly, a.) Lawfully. 
And ere they paid the lawing, lawmaker (la'ma"ker), n. One who enacts or 
They set a combat them between, ordains laws ; a legislator ; a lawgiver. 
*Z^&V^^ 
lawk (lak), interj. [Also lauk, lawks (cf . law*) ; tnor of t j, e "Brut") (ML. lagamannus, lageman- 
*), < AS. lahmann, a man acquainted with the 
law, and whose duty it was to declare it, prop, a 
Scaud. term (= Icel. logmadhr, OSw. lagman), 
< lagu, law, +mann, man.] 1. A man author- 
ized to declare the law. Specifically (a) The chief 
citizen or first commoner of an ancient Scandinavian com- 
munity or state, who was the spokesman of the people 
against the king and court at public assemblies, etc., the 
guardian of the law, and president both of the legislative 
, . 
a trivial euphemism for Lord. ] An exclamation 
expressing wonder or surprise. 
Lank, Mr. Weller, . . . how you do frighten one ! 
Dickens, Pickwick, xxxix. 
Lawk help me, I don't know where to look. 
Hood, The Lost Heir. 
lawk-a-day (lak'a-da), interj. A variant of lack- 
aday. Miss Hawkins, The Countess and Ger- 
trude, III. 196. 
lawks (laks), interj. A variant of lawk. 
"Lawks!" exclaimed Mrs. Partington, "what monsters 
these master-builders must be ! " 
The Pioneer (New York), Oct., 1886. 
lawland (la'land), n. A dialectal (Scotch) form 
of lowland. 
lawless (la'les), a. [< ME. laweles, lagelease (= 
Icel. Wglauss = Sw. laglos = Dan. lovlo's) ; < teic 1 
+ -less.] 1. Not subject or not submissive to 
law ; uncontrolled by law, whether natural, hu- 
man, or divine; licentious; unruly; ungoverned: 
as, lawless passions ; a lawless tyrant or brigand. 
And wrong repressed, and establisht right, 
Which lawlesse men had formerly fordonne. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. i. 2. 
To be worse than worst 
Of those that lawless and incertain thought 
Imagine howling ! Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 127. 
For him Antsea burn'd with lawless flame, 
And strove to tempt him from the paths of fame. 
Pope, Iliad, vi. 201. 
2. Contrary to law; opposed to the laws of the 
land or of order ; illegal ; disorderly : as, a law- lawmpast, 
less claim ; lawless proceedings. Fairholt. 
He needs no indirect nor lawless course. 
, 
body and of the law-courts. (6) The president of the su- 
preme court of Orkney and Shetland while the islands re- 
mained under Norse rule. 
The OdaUer [of Orkney and Shetland] owned no vassal- 
age to king, earl, lawman (chief judge), or hofding, but, 
with characteristic love of system and deference to lawful 
authority, he yielded to each in his degree the obedience 
of a subject. Memorial for Orkney, quoted in Westmin- 
ister Rev., CXXVIII. 688. 
2. One of a body of aristocrats who held magis- 
terial office in towns of Danish origin in early 
England. 
A member, doubtless the foremost member, of the Dan- 
ish civic Confederation, it [Lincoln) still retained a Danish 
patriciate of twelve hereditary Lawmen. . . . The Law- 
men of Lincoln enjoyed the rights of territorial lords. All 
twelve were clothed with the judicial powers of sac and 
sue. . . . And it is to be noticed that three of these great 
officers were men in holy orders. 
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, IV. 208. 
lawmonger (la'mung"ger), n. A low practi- 
tioner of law ; a pettifogger. 
Though this chattering lawmonger be bold to call it 
wicked. Hilton, Colasterion. 
An obsolete spelling of tempos 1 . 
01 .*<; course. lawn 1 (Ian), n. [A corruption of lawnd 1 . laund 1 : 
Shak., Rich. III., L 4. 224. gee i auna \.] l. An open space in a torest or 
between or among woods ; a glade. 
3. Destitute of law; not conformable to rule 
or reason; abnormal; anomalous: as, lawless 
eccentricities ; lawless prosody. 
Mastering the lawless science of our law. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
4. Deprived of legal rights; beyond the pale 
of the law. Lawless churches, formerly, in England, 
churches and chapels exempted from the visitation of the 
ordinary, the ministers of which usually celebrated mar- 
riage without license or banns. Lawless court. See 
court. Lawless man, a man who is deprived of the bene- 
fit or protection of the law ; an outlaw. Compare lawful 
man, under lawful. 
lawlessly (la'les-li), adv. In a lawless man- 
ner, or in a manner contrary to law; unlawful- lawn 1 (Ian), v. t. [< lawn 1 , n.] To make into 
_ly; without regard for law. lawn; lay down in grass as a lawn. [Rare.] 
The condition or Qlye me tftate to improve an ol(i faml i y 8ea t 
By lawning an hundred good acres of wheat. 
Anstey, New Bath Guide, Conclusion. 
lawn 2 (Ian), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also lawne, 
laune,<.WE.lawnde,launde; origin uncertain; by 
some regarded as a peculiar use of lawn 1 , either 
De Quincey Rhetoric. (( becau | e j^ itg g nen e s s it was bleacned on 
Cf. the older form a lawn or smoot h grassy sward" (Imp. Diet.) 
lawny 
The next to it in goodnesse is the line called Byssus, the 
fine lawne or tilf anie whereof our wives and dames at home 
set so much store by for to trim and deck themselves. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xix. 1. 
They threw off their doublets both, 
And stood up in their sarks of lawn. 
Duel of Wharton and Stuart (Child's Ballads, VIII. 263). 
An awful period for those who ventured to maintain lib- 
eral opinions ; and who were too honest to sell them for 
the ermine of the judge or the lawn of the prelate. 
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, ii. 
2. In ceram., a fine sieve, generally of silk, 
through which slip for glazing is passed to bring 
it to uniform fineness and fluidity. Bishop's 
lawn, cobweb lawn, cypress lawnt, etc. See the 
qualifying words. 
II. a. Made or consisting of lawn Lawn 
Sleeves, sleeves of lawn ; the sleeves of an Anglican bishop. 
See bishop-sleeve. 
Suppose the Church, your present mistress, dressed in 
lawn sleeves, on one hand, and: Miss Sophia, with no lawn 
about her, on the other, which would you be for? 
Goldsmith, Vicar, vii. 
For you, right rev'rend Osnaburg, 
Nane sets the lawn-sleeves sweeter. 
Burns, A Dream. 
My lords of the lawn-sleeves have lost half their honours 
now. Thackeray, Virginians, Iviii. 
lawnd 1 !, An earlier form of laund 1 . 
lawnd 2 !, n. An earlier form of lawn%. 
lawn-mower (lan'mo'er), n. One who or that 
which mows a lawn; specifically, a machine, 
either pushed over the ground by hand or drawn 
by a horse, according to its size, for cutting the 
grass on a lawn. The lawn-mower consists essentially 
of a double-edged spiral knife, or a series of spiral knives, 
set in the periphery of a cylinder, which is caused by gear- 
ing to rotate in contact with the edge of a stationary recti- 
linear knife placed tangentially to the cylinder at theheight 
from the ground at which the grass is to be cut. The knives 
thus clip off the grass upon the principle of scissors. 
lawn-sprinkler (lau'springk'ler), . A contri- 
vance for irrigating a lawn or garden gently 
and evenly. A common form consists of a vertical 
pipe supported on a stand, and having an attachment for 
a hose at the lower and a swivel collar at the upper end. 
From the swivel collar project one or more short branches 
with small perforations, and all turned laterally in the same 
direction with reference to the center. When the water 
is turned on, its escape from these holes causes the swivel 
collar to revolve rapidly, and the water is by centrifugal 
force spread in fine drops over a circle of moderate diame- 
ter. 
lawn-tennis (lan'ten'is), H. A game played 
with a ball and rackets on a lawn or other 
smooth surface by two, three, or four persons. 
A space, 78 by 27 feet if two play, 78 by 36 if three or four 
play (called a court), is laid off, and is divided lengthwise 
into two equal parts by the line L F, and crosswise by 
a net, C I, 3 feet high in the middle, and 3 feet 6 inches 
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm; . . . 
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs. Milton, P. L., iv. 262. 
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, 
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 
Gray, Elegy. 
Those long, rank, dark wood-walks drench'd in dew, 
Leading from lawn to lawn. Tennyson, Fair Women. 
2. An open space of ground of some size, cov- 
ered with grass, and kept smoothly mown, as 
near a dwelling or in a pleasure-ground. 
Four courts I made. East, West, and South and North. 
In each a squared lawn. Tennyson, Palace of Art. 
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lawlessness (la'les-nes), n. 
quality of being lawless, or of being unrestrain- 
ed, unauthorized, or uncontrolled by law ; want 
of legality or legitimacy. 
But Burton is not so much fanciful as capricious ; his 
motion is not the motion of freedom, but of lawlessness. 
lawliket, [< law 1 + 
lawly.] 1. Lawful; allowed by law. 
To affirm the giving of any law or lawlike dispense to sin 
for hardness of heart is a doctrine of extravagance from 
the sage principles of piety. Milton, Divorce, ii. 7. 
2. Regulated as by law ; characterized by re- 
spect for law and order. 
Let not my verse your lawlike minds displease. 
Gascoigne, Fruits of War. 
law-list (la'list), n. An annual publication in 
England containing matters of information re- 
garding the administration of law and the legal 
profession, such as lists of the judges, queen's 
counsel, Serjeants at law, benchers, barristers, 
attorneys, magistrates, law-officers, sheriffs, etc. 
A similar publication is issued for Scotland. 
"Can you give a fellow anything to read in the mean 
time?" . . . Smallweed suggests the Law List. 
Dickens, Bleak House, xx. 
law-lord (la'16rd), n. 1. A peer in the British 
Parliament who holds or has held high judi- 
cial office, or has been distinguished in the legal 
profession. Since 1876 all cases appealed to the House 
(whereas the word existed in the form laund, 
lawnd, at a time when the other word lawn, ear- 
lier laund, lawnd, had not the sense of 'a bleach- 
ing-la wn ' ) , or because, as " a transparent cover- 
ing," it might be derived from the sense of " a 
vista through trees " (Wedgwood). The prob- 
able source is that pointed out by Skeat, name- 
ly, F. Loon (formerly also Lan), a town near 
Rheims. Lawn was formerly also called ' ' cloth 
of Rheims," and Rheims is not far from Cam- 
bray and Tournay, which have given cambric and 
dornick respectively (Skeat). For the form, 
ct.fawn, < F. faon.~\ I. n. 1. Fine linen cam- 
bric, used for various purposes : also applied in 
the trade to various sheer muslins. Lawn is nota- 
bly used for the sleeves and other parts of the dress of bish- 
ops of the Anglican Church. The word is hence much used 
in allusion to bishops, like ermine in allusion to Judges. 
In that chaunber ther was an hanged bedde, 
Of sylk and gold full curyously wrought, 
And ther vppon a shete of launde was spredde, 
As clenly dressed as it cowde be thought. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.X 1. 73. 
Lawn-tennis Court. 
at the ends C and /; service-lines BJ and D H are also 
drawn on each side 21 feet from the net. A player stand- 
ing on the base-Une L K must serve (that is, knock) the 
ball with his racket over the net into that part of the court 
lettered CNOD. and his opponent must return the ball on 
the first bound into any part of the court on the side of 
the net opposite to him; the original player or his partner 
must return the ball again, striking it on the fly or the 
first bound ; and thus the ball is driven back and forth 
over the net until one side fails to return it or knocks it 
out of the opponent's court. Failure to serve the ball 
(known as afault),on two trials, into the proper part of the 
court, or failure to return a ball at any time during play, 
counts 15 for the opposing side, a second such failure 
makes the opposing score 30, a third 40, and a fourth game. 
Should both sides, however, attain a score of 40, such a 
situation in the game being known as deuce, one side to win 
must secure two points in succession ; or, if one side has 
an advantage or vantage that is, the first point gained af- 
ter deuce the other side must make three points in suc- 
cession in order to win. 
Lawn-tennis is a modern adaptation of the first princi- 
ple of tennis, in the simplest form, to a ball-game played 
on grass with rackets. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 181. 
Iawny 1 !(la'ni), a. [<lawn 1 + -y 1 .] Likealawn; 
level, and covered with smooth turf. 
Thro' forrests, mountains, or the lawny ground 
If 't happ you see a maid. 
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 1. 
lawny 2 (la'ni), a. [< lawn 2 + -y 1 .] Made of 
or resembling the fabric called lawn. 
It was as angry with her lawny veil, 
That from his sight it enviously should hide her. 
Drayton, Moses, i. 
That undeflour'd and unblemishable simplicity of the 
Gospel not she herself, for that would never be, but a 
false-whited, a lawny resemblance of her. 
Miltvn. Church-Government, n. 3. 
