leg 
4. The part of a pair of trousers or drawers, or 
of a stocking, that covers the leg. 5. Incricket: 
(a) The part of the field that lies to the left of 
and behind the batsman as he faces the bowler : 
as, to strike a ball to leg. 
A beautifully pitched ball for the outer stump, which 
the reckless and unfeeling Jack catches hold of, and hits 
right round to leg for five, while the applause becomes 
deafening. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 8. 
(6) The fielder who occupies that part of the field 
known as leg. Also long-leg. 6. A sharper: 
same as black-leg, 3. [Slang.] 
He was a horse chaunter : he's a leg now. 
Dickens, Pickwick, xlii. 
Now and then a regular leg, when he's travelling to 
Chester, York, or Doncaster, to the races, may draw other 
passengers into play, and make a trifle, or not a trifle, by 
ft; or he will play with other legs. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 501. 
7. Naut.: (a) The run made by a ship on one 
tack when beating to windward. (6) One of 
two small ropes spliced together, by which a 
buntline or leech-line is fastened to the foot or 
leech of a sail. Abdominal legs. See abdominal. 
Artificial legs, supports imitating the natural leg, used 
by persons who have undergone amputation. They are 
made of various materials, such as wood, vulcanite, gutta- 
percha, rawhide, splints crossed at right angles and glued 
together, etc., and are often provided with ingenious com- 
binations of joints and springs to imitate as far as possible 
the natural motions. Light artificial legs are commonly 
called cork legs, but cork is now seldom used in them, wil- 
low-wood being found preferable. Barbados leg.pachy- 
dermia, or elephantiasis Arabum. See pachydermia. 
Cursorious legs. See cursorious. False legs of cater- 
pillars, the fleshy abdominal legs, or prop-legs, which dis- 
appearin the perfect insect. See cut under Amaru. FOB- 
soriallegs. Seefossorial. Hyperbolic leg. See hyper- 
bolic. In high leg, much excited or exultant; in nigh 
feather. [Rare.] 
is not returned : the Mufti in high leg about the 
Spaniards. Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland, Oct. 8, 1808. 
Leg-and-foot guard. See guard. Leg-of-mutton 
sleeve. See sleeve. On one's last legs. See last*, a. 
On one's legs, standing, especially to speak : as, to be 
able to think on one's legs. 
Meanwhile the convention had assembled, Mackenzie 
was on his legs, and was pathetically lamenting the hard 
condition of the Estates. Macaulay, Hist. Eng. 
The leg business, ballet-dancing. [Low.] 
I was merely telling your Grace what Mrs. Theobald 
was. . . . "She was," says Adonis, . . . " in the leg busi- 
ness, your Grace." 
Miss Annie Edwardes, Ought we to Visit her? 
To Change the leg, to change from one gait to another : 
said of a horse. 
The chestnut . . . is in a white lather of foam, and 
changes his leg twice as lie approaches. 
Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ix. 
To fall on one's legs. Same as to /all on one's feet (which 
see, under falli). 
A man who has plenty of brains generally falls on his 
legs. Bulwer, Night and Morning, iii. 3. 
To feel one's legs, to begin to support one's self on the 
legs, as an infant. [Colloq.] 
Remarkably beautiful child ! . . . Takes notice in a way 
quite wonderful ! May seem impossible to you, but feels 
hii legs already ! Dickens, Cricket on the Hearth, i. 
To find one's legs. See find. To give a leg to, to as- 
sist by supporting the leg, as in mounting a horse. 
The wall is very low, Sir, and your servant will give you 
a leg up. Dickens, Pickwick, xvi. 
To have a bone in one's leg. See bonei. To have 
the legs of one, to be quicker in running. [Slang.] 
The beggar had the legs of me. 
Macmillan's Mag., March, 1861, p. 357. 
To make a legt, to make a bow or act of obeisance (in al- 
lusion to the throwing back of one leg in performing the 
act). 
He that cannot make a leg, put off 's cap, kiss his hand, 
and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap. 
Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 10. 
Making low legs to a nobleman, 
Or looking downward, with your eye-lids close. 
Marlowe, Edward II. 
"We are just like a Child; give him a Plum, he makes a 
Leg; give him a second Plum, he makes another Leg. 
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 109. 
To put the boot on the wrong leg. See 600(2. To 
shake a leg, to dance. [Low.] To shake a loose leg, 
toleadan inaependentand generally licentious life. [Low.] 
To show a leg, to get up from or out of bed. [Low.] 
To try it on the Other leg, to try the only other pos- 
sible means or resource. [Colloq.] Upon its legs, es- 
tablished ; in a stable or prosperous condition. 
" When the paper gets upon its legs " that was the only 
answer he received when he asked for a settlement. 
The Century, XXXVII. 305. 
leg (leg), v. i.; pret. and pp. legged, ppr. legging. 
[< leg, .] 1 . To pass on ; walk or run nimbly : 
often with an indefinite it. [Prov. Eng. and 
Scotch, or slang.] 
The fool doth pass the guard now, 
He'll kiss his hand and leg it. 
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, v. 1. 
2f. To make a reverence. 
leg. An abbreviation of legato. 
3400 
legable (leg'a-bl), a. [< NL. as if *legaUlis, < 
L. legare, send, bequeath: see legacy^} Capa- 
ble of being bequeathed. Bailey. 
legacy (leg'a-si), n.; pi. legacies (-siz). [< ME. 
legacie, < Of. legacie (found only in sense of 
'legateship') = Sp. legacia = Pg. legacia, < ML. 
as if "legatia, for L. letjatum (> It. legato = Sp. 
legado; cf . Pg. legado, bequeathed), a bequest, 
< legatus, pp. of legare, bequeath: see legate. 
The F. legs, a legacy, is not related; it is a bad 
spelling of OF. lais: see lease?, n.] 1. Money 
or other property left by will ; a bequest ; spe- 
cifically, a gift of personalty by will as distin- 
guished from a devise or gift of realty. 
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 
And, dying, mention it within their wills, 
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 
Unto their issue. Shak., J. C., iii. 2. 141. 
Samborus bestowed by legacie his goods and possessions 
vpon the saide Order, receiuing maintenance and exhibicion 
from the saide Order, during the terme of his life. 
Uakluyt's Voyages, I. 145. 
2. Anything bequeathed or handed down by an 
ancestor or a predecessor. 
Good counsel is the best legacy a father can leave a child. 
Sir R. L' Estrange. 
3f. A business which one has received from 
another to execute ; a commission ; an errand. 
He came and told his legacy. Chapman, Iliad, vii. 348. 
4f. Legation; embassy. 
Offabyoften legacies solicited Charles le maigne,the king 
of France, to be his friend. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 125. 
Cumulative legacies. See cumulative. Demonstra- 
tive legacy, a legacy in which the thing or money is not 
specified or distinguished from all others of the same kind, 
but a particular fund is pointed out for its payment, as a 
gift of $1,000 worth of securities to be taken from testa- 
tor's stocks and bonds, or a certain sum out of a bank-de- 
posit. General legacy, a legacy of a specified quantity 
of money or other commodity, payable out of the personal 
assets generally ; one which does not necessitate delivering 
any particular thing, or paying money exclusively out of 
any particular part of the estate as a specific legacy does. 
Legacy duty, a duty to which legacies are subject, for 
purposes of revenue, as in Great Britain, the rate of which 
rises according to the remoteness of the relationship of the 
legatee, and reaches its maximum where he is not related 
to the testator. In the State of New York a uniform tax of 
five per cent, on legacies is called collateral inheritance tax. 
Residuary legacy, a gift of whatever remains after 
satisfying other gifts. Specific legacy, the bequest of a 
particular thing or money, specified and distinguished 
from all others of the same kind, as a picture, or the money 
in a particular bag. Thus, a bequest of a diamond ring 
is general; a bequest of my diamond ring is specific. 
Vested legacy. See vested. 
legacy-hunter (leg'a-si-hun*ter), n. One who 
seeks to obtain a legacy or legacies by flattery, 
servility, or other artifice. 
The legacy-hunter, however degraded by an ill-com- 
pounded appellation in our barbarous language, was 
known, as I am told, in ancient Rome, by the sonorous 
titles of "captator" and "hseredipeta." 
Johnson, Rambler, No. 197. 
legacy-hunting (leg'a-si-hun"ting), . An 
eager pursuit of legacies. 
legal (le'gal), a. and . [< F. legal = Pg. Sp. 
legal = It. legale, < L. legalis, legal, < k-x (leg-), 
law, ult. akin to E. law: see law^-. Cf. leal 
and loyal, doublets of legal."] I. a. 1. Per- 
taining or relating to law ; connected with the 
law: as, legal doctrines or studies; a legal 
document or controversy; legal arguments. 
2. According or conformable to law; permit- 
ted or warranted by the law or laws ; lawful ; 
not forbidden by law ; having the force of law : 
as,,the action is strictly legal; legal traffic or 
commerce. 3. Pertaining to the provisions or 
administration of the law; determined by or 
in accordance with law; judicial: as, legal pro- 
ceedings; a legal opinion or decision; a legal 
standard or test. 4. Amenable to remedy or 
punishment by law as distinguished from equi- 
ty: as, legal waste ; tej/aHrregularity. 5. Cre- 
ated by law; recognized by law: as, legal in- 
capacity; a legal infant; legal crimes. 6. In 
theol., according to the Mosaic law or dispensa- 
tion; according or pertaining to the doctrine 
of reliance on good works for salvation, as dis- 
tinguished from that of free grace Legal as- 
sets, those assets which are subject to common-law pro- 
cess ; such assets as do not require the intervention of 
equity to be recognized as assets. Legal compulsion. 
See compulsion. Legal debts, debts that are recovera- 
ble in a court of common law, as a bill of exchange or a 
bond ; a simple contract debt, as distinguished from lia- 
bilities enforceable only in equity. Legal estate, an es- 
tate in land recognizable as such in a court of common law. 
See equitable estate, under estate. Legal fiction, fraud, 
holiday. See the nouns. Legal Interest. See interest, 
7. Legal memory, necessity, person, relation, etc. 
See the nouns. Legal representatives. See represen- 
tative. Legal reversion, in Scots laic, the period within 
which a debtor whose heritage has been adjudged is en- 
titled to redeem the subject that is, to disencumber it of 
the adjudication by paying the debt adjudged for. Legal 
legate 
tender. See tender. =Syn. 2 and 3. Legitimate, etc. (see 
lawful) ; legalized, authorized, allowable, just, constitu- 
tional. 
II. n. In Scots law, same as legal reversion 
(which see, under I.).-pxpiry of the legal. See 
expiry. 
legalisation, legalise. See legalization, legalize. 
legalism (le'gal-izm), n. [< legal + -ism.'] 1. 
Strict adherence to law or prescription ; belief 
in the efficacy of adhering strictly to the require 
mentsof thelaw. Specifically 2. In(7(eo;.,the 
doctrine that salvation depends on strict ob- 
servance of the law, as distinguished from the 
doctrine of salvation through grace; also, the 
tendency to observe with great strictness the 
letter of religious law, rather than its spirit. 
Leave, therefore, . . . mysticism and symbolism on the 
one side ; cast away with utter scorn geometry and legal- 
ism on the other. Huskin. 
His [Zwingli's] profound respect for the letter of the 
Bible led him to legalism and extreme Sabbatarianism. 
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 790. 
legalist (le'gal-ist), n. [< legal + -ist.] One 
who practises or inculcates strict adherence to 
law ; specifically, in theol., one who regards con- 
formity to the law as the ground of salvation, 
or who is rigorous in exacting obedience to the 
letter of the law. 
They [the Jews] were rigid monotheists and scrupulous 
legalists, who would strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. 
Schaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. 17. 
legality (le-gal'i-ti), . [< F. legalite = Sp. 
legalidad = Pg. 'legalidade = It. legalita, < ML. 
legalita(t-)s, lawfulness, < L. legalis, legal: see 
legal. Cf. lenity and loyalty, doublets of legal- 
ity.} 1. The state or character of being legal; 
lawfulness ; conformity to law. 
The legality was clear, the morality doubtful. 
T. Hook, Gilbert Gurney. 
The agreement of an action with the law of duty Is its 
legality; that of the maxim with the law is its morality. 
Abbott, tr. of Kant's Metaph. of Morals. 
2. In theol., a reliance on works for salvation; 
insistence on the mere letter of the law with- 
out regard to its spirit : personified in the quota- 
tion. 
He to whom thou wast sent for ease, being by name 
Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is, and 
is in bondage with her children ; and is, in a mystery, 
this mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy 
head. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. 
legalization (le"gal-i-za'shon), n. [< legalize 
+ -ation.~\ The act of legalizing. Also spelled 
legalisation. 
legalize (le'gal-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. legalized, 
ppr. legalizing. [= F. Ugaliser = Sp. legalisar 
= Pg. legalisar = It. legalizzare; as legal + -ize.~\ 
1 . To make lawful ; render conformable to law, 
either by previous authorization or by giving 
the sanction of law to what has already been 
done; authorize; sanction; justify. 2. In 
theol., to interpret or apply Scripture in the 
spirit of legalism. 
Also spelled legalise. 
legally (le'gal-i), adv. In a legal manner; law- 
fully; according to law ; in a manner permitted 
by law. 
legalness (le'gal-nes), n. Legality. 
legal-tender (le'gal-ten'der), a. That can be 
lawfully used, in paying a debt: as, legal-tender 
currency; legal-tender money. -See tender. 
legantine (leg'an-tin), a. Same as legatine. 
legatary (Ieg'a4a-ri), n.; pi. legataries (-riz). 
[= F. legataire = Sp. Pg. It. legatario, < L. 
legatarius, a legatee, < legatum, a legacy: see 
legacy.'] One to whom a legacy is bequeathed ; 
a legatee. [Bare.] 
legate (leg'at), M.I [< ME. legat, legate, < F. le- 
gat = Sp. Pg. legado = It. legato, an ambassa- 
dor, esp. of the Pope, < L. legates, a deputy, < 
legare, pp. legatus, send with a commission, 
appoint, < lex (leg-), law: see law 1 . Cf. legate, 
n. 2 , legacy.'] 1. A person commissioned to rep- 
resent a state, or the highest authority in the 
state, in a foreign state or court; a deputy; an 
ambassador. Specifically 2. In Rom. hist., 
a foreign envoy chosen by the senate, or a 
lieutenant of a general or of a consul or other 
magistrate in the government of an army or a 
province. 3. One who is delegated by the Pope 
as his representative in the performance of cer- 
tain ecclesiastical or political functions, or both. 
The papal legate to a church council is its presiding officer ; 
the ordinary legate to a foreign court was formerly both 
ambassador to and ecclesiastical overseer of the country to 
which he was sent ; and the legates of six of the former 
Papal States (see legation, 4) were their governors. Three 
ranks of legates were early established : legates (legati) a 
or de latere (from the side), who were generally cardinals ; 
leffati missi or dati (sent or given), corresponding to the 
modern nuncios or internuncios ; and legati nati (legates 
born), a limited number of bishops or archbishops who had 
