lead 
6. To draw out; live through; pass: said of 
manner of life: as, to lend an idle life. 
"Ffeire suster," quod she, "as longe as ye caste yow to 
lede soche lyf, ye ought not to come in this place." 
Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), i. 9. 
That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godli- 
ness and honesty. 1 Tim. ii. 2. 
7. To draw or drag into ; cause to proceed in : 
as, he led his pursuers a hard chase. 
You remember the . . . life he led his wife and daughter. 
Dickens. 
8. To act as a guide in ; show by going before. 
An* the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of 
cloud, to lead them the way. Ex. xiii. 21. 
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. 
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., L 170. 
9f. To drive, as horses. 
The Sonnes sone, the rede, 
That highte Phetoun, wolde lede 
Algate his fader carte and gye. 
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 942. 
10. To transport or carry, as in a cart or other 
conveyance. [Obsolete or prov. Eng. or Scotch.] 
With him ther was a Ploughman, was his brother, 
That hadde i-lad of dong ful many a fother. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 530. 
The hard frost . . . kept back the too early growth of 
autumn-sown wheat* and gave . . . Lthe farmers] the op- 
portunity of leading manure. 
Mrs. Gaskellf Sylvia's Lovers, xvi. 
11. In card-playing, to commence a round or 
trick with : as, to lead a heart or a trump. 
To lead apes in hell. See ape. To lead astray, to 
draw into a wrong way or into error ; seduce from truth or 
rectitude. To lead by the nose, to cause to follow or 
comply submissively, as a bear is led by a ring in the nose. 
Though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by 
the nose with gold. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 832. 
To lead captive, to draw or carry into captivity. To 
lead on, to persuade to advance ; induce ; draw on. To 
lead one a dance, to lead the dance. See dance. 
II. intrans. 1. To go before as a guide ; act 
as a guide ; show the way by going along with 
or in advance ; take the lead. 
I will lead on softly. Gen. xxxiii. 14. 
Lead, monster ; we'll follow. Shak., Tempest, iii. 2. 159. 
2. To be in advance ; be first ; have precedence 
or power of direction: as, to lead in a race 
or in battle. Specifically, in music: (a) To take the 
principal part ; conduct, as in an orchestra or a chorus. (6) 
To enunciate the subject or theme of a thematic compo- 
sition : said of one voice-part which begins alone : usually, 
in this sense, with off. 
3. To serve for direction or guidance; have a 
direction or tendency; tend: as, this road leads 
to the river; gaming leads to other vices. 
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to 
destruction. Mat. vii. 13. 
The ascent of steps 
That to the decorated pillar lead. 
Wordsworth, Excursion, vi. 
4. In card-playing, to play the first card of a 
round or trick. 5. To be led; be guided, con- 
ducted, or turned in a given way. 
As he [the king] was leading to the place of execution, 
one of his people wept. Penn, No Cross, No Crown, ii. 
Weir men say of fish that they lead best when passing 
rapidly towards some distant point ; and worst when they 
are moving slowly or uncertainly. Mass. Rep., 1872, p. 28. 
Before being entered the dogs must be taught to lead 
quietly. Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 219. 
To lead fair (naut.), said of running rigging when it is 
clear of the other ropes. To lead in prayer, to offer 
prayer in an assembly, as a prayer-meeting : used with 
reference to leading the thoughts of others into a particu- 
lar devotional channel. To lead Off, to lead the way or 
take the initiative in the doing of something. To lead up 
to, to bring about or introduce by degrees or in a gradual 
way : as, these events led up to the establishment of a re- 
public ; he led up to his favorite topic. 
lead 1 (led), n. [= OFries. lede, lade = MD. leydc 
= MLG. leide, lede = OHG. leita, leiti, MHG. lei te, 
G. leite, lead; from the verb.] 1. The position 
of a guide or leader; guidance ; direction ; in- 
struction; hence, the condition of being first or 
foremost; precedence: as, to be in the lead; to 
take the lead of a party ; to have a clear lead in 
a game; to give one a lead in hunting. 
I lost the run, and had to see Harriet Tristram go away 
with the best lead anyone has had to a fast thing. 
Trollope, Orley Farm. 
The lawyers were, of course, in the lead, as the profes- 
sion always is in all matters of public interest in our land. 
Tourgee, A Fool's Errand, p. 217. 
2t. A following. 
Take fyve of the best knyghtes 
That be in your lede. 
Lytell Geste of Sobyn Bode (Child's Ballads, v. 108). 
3. That which leads or guides ; that which is 
followed, as an example, a clue, or a passage- 
way: as, to follow the lead of a speculator; to 
find a lead out of a difficulty. Specifically (a) A 
passageway; a channel ; an open passage through ice. 
, 3384 
During the first watch I went up into the crow's nest, 
to have a look at the leads of open water, and discovered 
the appearance of one to the southward. 
J{. M'Cormick, Arc. and Antarc. Voyages, I. 148. 
(6) In mining, a lode. See lodei, n. [Western U. S.] 
4. The right of playing the first card in a round 
or trick ; the suit or card so played. 
All you have got to mind is to return your partner's lead. 
Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing. 
5. The course of a running rope from end to 
end : as, a clear lead. 6. In engin., the average 
distance required to be traveled to remove the 
earth of an excavation to form an embankment. 
It is equivalent to the removal of the whole quantity of the 
material from the center of gravity of the excavation to the 
center of gravity of the embankment. 
7. In elect.: (a) The angle between the plane 
through the lines of contact of the brushes or 
collectors of a dynamo or electric motor with 
the commutator and the transverse plane bi- 
secting the magnetic field. (6) A conductor con- 
veying electricity from the source to the place 
where it is to be used. 8. In a steam-engine, 
an arrangement of the valve or valves and the 
ports of a cylinder by which the steam is ad- 
mitted in front of the piston or allowed to 
escape from behind it a little before the end of 
the stroke. On the steam-side or inlet-ports it is also 
called outside lead ; on that of the exhaust-ports it is called 
the inside lead or exhaust-lead. 
9. In music: (a) The enunciation by one voice- 
part of the subject or theme of a thematic com- 
position before the entrance of the other parts. 
(6) A cue or short passage in one voice-part on 
which the entrance of others depends Lead of 
the crank, in a steam-engine, the excess above 90 in 
the angle made by the plane of one crank with the plane 
of another on the same shaft. This setting secures greater 
smoothness of motion by moderating the velocity of the 
piston at the end of the stroke. E. H. Knight. 
lead 2 (led), n. and a. [< ME. leed, < AS. lead, 
lead, = OFries. lad = D. lood, lead, = MLG. lot, 
lead, a weight, lode, a plummet, = MHG. lot, G. 
loth = Sw. Dan. lod, a plummet, a lead, ball, 
bullet, a weight. The word occurs disguised in 
pilot, q. v. Another Teut. word for ' lead,' the 
metal, is OHG. blio, MHG. Hi, G. Wei, MLG. bli, 
blig = Icel. bly = Sw. Dan. big ; the L. is plum- 
bum (see plumb)."] I. n. 1. Chemical symbol, 
Pb; atomic weight, 206.9. One of the useful 
metals, remarkable for its softness and dura- 
bility. It belongs to the class of white metals, but has 
a decided bluish-gray tint, expressed by the common term 
"lead-gray." The freshly cut surface is lustrous, but it 
soon becomes dull from the formation of a film of oxid. 
Lead is the softest metal in general use ; it can be scratched 
by the finger-nail, and is easily cut with a knife. It is very 
malleable, and can be rolled into thin sheets ; but it cannot 
be drawn into fine wire. Lead rarely occurs in the native 
form ; as a general rule, and possibly in every instance, the 
particles of the metal thus found are associated with some 
ore of lead, or occur in such a manner as to indicate that 
they are of secondary origin. The most important locali- 
ties of native lead are in Sweden, near Pajsberg, where this 
metal occurs in small filiform masses and scaly grains, asso- 
ciated with magnetite in dolomite, and alsonear Nordmark, 
where pieces several ounces in weight have been obtained. 
Native lead has also recently been found crystallized in 
various forms belonging to the isometric system. Its 
specific gravity is about 11.4. It fuses at about 617" ; when 
heated before the blowpipe on charcoal, it is volatilized, 
leaving a yellow incrustation. The ores of lead are nu- 
merous and widely distributed, occurring in many coun- 
tries in very considerable quantity. The most important 
of these ores is the sulphuret (galena), which contains 86J 
per cent, of the metal. This ore is found in greater or less 
quantity in a very large number of metalliferous veins, 
especially such as produce gold and silver. Galena almost 
always contains at least a trace of silver, and in most re- 
gions the quantity of the precious metal is sufficient to 
make its separation profitable. (See Pattinson process and 
Parkes process, under process.) The carbonate of lead 
(cerusite) is also an important ore of this metal, and so is 
the sulphate (anglesite), but in less degree. These ores 
also usually contain silver in paying quantity, and the 
value of the precious metal is frequently greater than that 
of the lead itself. One of the chief uses of lead is for ser- 
vice-pipes in the supply of houses with water, a purpose 
for which the ductuity and flexibility of this metal ad- 
mirably adapt it. A serious drawback, however, is its lia- 
bility to oxidation and the poisonous nature of the result- 
ing combination, and to overcome this tendency lead pipes 
are often lined with tin. Another important use of lead is 
as the base of oil-painting, for which purpose it is used in 
the form of the carbonate. (See white lead, below.) Lead is 
also much used in the form of shot and bullets. The most 
important alloy of which lead forms a part is pewter. 
2. A plummet or mass of lead attached to a 
graduated line, used in sounding at sea. It is 
usually in the shape of the frustum of a cone or pyra- 
mid. For depths of 20 fathoms or under, it has a weight 
of from 5 to 9 pounds, and is called a hand-lead. For 
depths from 20 to 60 fathoms, the lead weighs from 20 to 
CO pounds, and is called a coasting-lead. For depths from 
60 to 200 fathoms, a deep-sea lead is used, weighing from 
75 to 120 pounds. A special apparatus, called a deep-sea 
sounding-machine, is used for depths above 200 fathoms. 
See deep-sea sounding-machine, under deep-sea. 
3. In printing,* thin strip of type-metal (some- 
times of brass), used to increase the space be- 
tween lines of composed types. Leads are usually 
lead 
cast to fractional parts of the body pica. The thickness 
most used is six-to-pica, one thirty-sixth of an inch, but 
there are many sizes both above and below this. To make 
matter still more conspicuous, double leads (two leads 
together) are often used, and sometimes treble leads. 
There is a newspaper in another city which . . . avoids 
double leads, capitals, pictures, and all forms of typo- 
graphical hysteria. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 819. 
4 . A small stick of black-lead or plumbago used 
in pencils. 5. pi. Sheets or plates of lead 
used for covering roofs: sometimes used as a 
singular for a flat roof covered with lead. 
He looketh down on his brethren as if he stood on the 
top of a leads, and not on the same ground they do. 
Bp. Andrewes, Sermons, V. 18. 
The tempest crackles on the leads. 
Tennyson, Sir Galahad. 
" On to the leads; will you come and see the view from 
thence?" I followed still, up a very narrow staircase to 
the attics, and thence by a ladder and through a trap-door 
to the roof of the hall. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xi. 
6f. A pipe of lead ; a leader. 
And let me (good Lord) be like the Lead 
Which to som Citie from som Conduit-head 
Brings holsom water ; yet (self-wanting sense) 
It selfe receiues no drop of comfort thence. 
Sylvester, it. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden. 
7. In stained-glass work, etc., one of the cames 
or ribbons of lead, grooved on both sides, which 
serve to retain the glass by the edges. 8. In 
knitting, a tin or lead socket in which a needle 
is fixed before being fitted to the frame Black 
lead. See black-lead. Blue lead, (a) A miners' name 
for galena. (6) In the manufacture of white lead, lead 
which has not become perfectly converted into the car- 
bonate, and therefore retains more or less of its blue 
color. Chocolate lead. See chocolate. Corneous lead. 
Same as phosgenite. Drift-lead, a heavy lead hung over- 
board when a ship is lying at anchor, to show if she drifts 
or drags. Glaziers' turned lead. Same as earner, 2. 
Green lead ore. See pyromorphite. Lead-float file. 
See /ffei. Lead-shaving machine, a series of rotary 
knives so combined as to reduce lead to shavings for the 
manufacture of white lead. Leads of Venice, places of 
confinement situated immediately under the leads (roof) 
of the ducal palace in Venice, memorable for the political 
prisoners confined there in the time of the Venetian repub- 
lic. Milled lead. Same as sheet-lead (which see, below). 
Mock lead. Same as blende. Redlead, apigment formed 
by the exposure of litharge to the action of air at a tempera- 
ture of 500, under which conditions it absorbs oxygen. It 
is used for a variety of purposes. When mixed with mastic 
and linseed-oil, it is used as a cement for the flanges of 
steam-pipes, but it enters the market chiefly as a pigment, 
as, when mixed with either water or linseed-oil, it covers 
extremely well. Bed lead ore. Same as crocoile. 
Sheet-lead, a thin plate of lead made by passing a flat in- 
got repeatedly through a rolling-mill until the requisite 
thinness has been attained. Called in England milled 
lead. Sugar Of lead, or lead acetate, a crystalline salt 
prepared by dissolving lead or litharge in vinegar or pyro- 
ligneous acid. It has a sweetish taste, and in large doses 
is a violent irritant poison. It is used in medicine both in- 
ternally and externally, and extensively in the arts. To 
arm a lead. See arm*. To heave or cast the lead, to 
cast the deep-sea lead or hand-lead for the purpose of tak- 
ing soundings. 
I sail caste leede and loke the space, 
Howe depe the watir is like a dele. 
York Plays, p. 61. 
White lead, a mixture of the carbonate and the hydrated 
oxid of lead in somewhat varying proportions, approximat- 
ing to 75 per cent, of the former and 25 per cent, of the lat- 
ter. It is prepared as follows : Metallic lead is cast into 
perforated disks 7 inches in diameter and inch thick, 
technically called buckles. These are packed into earthen- 
ware pots 15 inches high, and to each pot is added a small 
amount of acetic acid. The pots are then piled into bins 
40 feet square, and the whole covered with spent tan-bark 
and left alone for nearly three months. During this time 
the temperature rises, steam is given off, and a rather 
complex chemical decomposition takes place, by which the 
metallic-lead buckles become converted into the white 
carbonate. But the quantity of lead converted into white 
lead seldom amounts to more than 65 per cent. The bins 
are unloaded and the contents of the pots thrown into a 
revolving screen, which separates the white lead from the 
unconverted metallic lead, this latter being remelted and 
put through the process again. The white lead is ground 
to a fine powder, and then made into a paste with 10 per 
cent, of linseed-oil, forming the paint known as white lead 
in oil. This method of converting metallic lead into white 
lead is known as the "Dutch process." Other methods 
tending toward greater quickness and economy have also 
been used. Yellow lead ore. See mtlfenite. 
II. a. Made or composed of lead ; consisting 
more or less of lead Lead flat, a level roof cov- 
ered with sheet-lead resting on boarding and joists. E. 
H. Knight, Lead lights, a form of casement-window 
having small panes set in leaden cames, which are at- 
tached to cross -tars called saddle-bars. E. H. Knight. 
= Syn. See leaden. 
lead 2 (led), v. t. [< ME. leden, leeden (= D. 
loodeit = MLG. loden = G. lotlten = Dan. lodde = 
Sw. loda, sound with the lead; from the noun.] 
1. To cover with lead; fasten or fit with lead; 
join by means of lead: as, to lead a roof;" to 
lead stained glass, as in a window. 
The Cloysters about it [the palace], leaded above, and 
paved with stone, the roof supported with columnes of 
marble. Sandys, Travailes, p. 25. 
2. In priii lini/, to insert leads between the lines 
of, as type. 3. In cernm., to give metallic 
