leisurely 
Others saucily 
Promise more speed, but do it leuurely. 
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 1349. 
A (luck of sheep that leisurely pa&s by, 
One after one. W wdinwrlh, .- : > mm-is I. 14. 
Loitch's blue. Sn- /,/<. 
leitet, a. SIT /((</i. 
Leithner's blue. See WH. 
Leitneria (lit-ue'ri-ii), . [NL. (A. W. Chap- 
man, 18(10), named after Dr. Edward F. Leitner, 
who collected in Florida.] A genus of plants, 
type of the order Leitnerica;. L. Floridana, a na- 
tive of Florida, Is a stout shrub from 2 to feet in height, 
with short thick branches anil deciduous entire leaves, 
smooth ami shining above and covered below with short 
woolly hairs. A second species is said to occur in 
Texas. 
Leitneriese (lit- no -ri' 6-6), . pi. [NL. (Ben- 
t ham and Hooker, 1880), < Leitneria + -e&.] Au 
order of unisexual apetalous plants. It Is dis- 
tinguished by the absence of a perianth, and by a superior 
radicle and simple leaves, from the related family I'l" 
tanacete, in whicli the radicle is inferior, and from the Ju- 
glattdeae, in which the leaves are pinnate. 
Lejeune-Dirichlet's theorem. See theorem. 
lek (lek), v. i. A dialectal variant of lake 2 . 
Some particular spot 1> chosen In their haunts, where 
they (black grouse] congregate, or lek. as It is sometimes 
called. // . Seebohm. Brit. Birds, II. 430. 
leket, n. An obsolete form of leek. 
lekin (le'kin), . Same aa likin. 
lekythoid, lekythos. See leeythoid, lecythus. 
lelt, . A Middle English form of leal. 
Lelaps, . See Ltelajn, i (b). 
lelet, a. and v. A Middle English form of leal. 
lellyt, adv. A Middle English form of leally. 
Lema(16'ma),n. [NL.; ongin not ascertained.] 
A genus of phytophagous 
beetles of the family Crio- 
ceridce, having the prothorax 
constricted. L. trilineata is a 
common North American species 
found on the potato, with a red- 
dish-yellow head and prothorax, and 
three lengthwise black stripes on 
the elytra. Fabriciut, 1798. 
3405 
fructification is therefore nuxual oidy. The carpospores 
are collected at Intervals within the filaments, ami the 
Rperinatozoids are produced In zones on the surface of the 
ihillu- 
Lembidae (lein'bi-de), n.pl. [NL., < Lembus + 
-iiin .\ A family of ciliate iufusorians named 
from the genus Lembus. 
lembict, lembikt, . Variants of liml>cc. Book 
of (Juuiti- l-'.HM-Hce (ed. Furnivall), p. 9. 
lembus (lem'bus). n. [L., < Gr. /x/3of, a small 
sailing-vessel with a sharp prow.] If. A small 
piratical vessel without a deck. 2. {.cap.} 
[NL.] The typical genus of Lembidce. having 
a crest-like membranous border, and no an- 
terior digitiforin appendages nor caudal 8eta. 
These animalcules swim very actively with a wriggling 
motion. They are found in salt water. L. rvtyfer U an 
example. 
leme't, . and v. A Middle English form of 
Three-lined Leaf-beetle < l.rtna trilineata). a, a, larva ; A. tip of its 
body, enlarged ; c. pupa ; if, eggs. ( Lines show natural sixes.) 
lemant (lem'an or le'mau), n. [Also leanutn; 
early mod. E. also lemman; < ME. lemman, lem- 
mon, I inn a 1 1 a. lefmon, leofmon, leveman (f), dear 
one, lover, sweetheart, lit., as separately and 
only in a general sense, in AS., leaf mann or 
monn, 'lief man,' i. e. 'dear person': AS. leaf, 
dear; mann, monn, person (man or woman): see 
lief and man.} 1. One who is dear; a person 
beloved. 
Ho that sith him one the Rode. 
lesus his lemmon. 
And his moder bi him atonde 
Sore wepinde, and seynt lohan. 
Political Poemi, etc. (ed. Knrnivall), p. 220. 
2. A sweetheart of either sex ; a gallant or a 
mistress : often in a bad sense ; a paramour. 
He seyde he wolde ben hire Limman or Paramour. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 24. 
His u if anon hath for hir lemman sent ; 
Her lemman certes, this is a knavisch speche. 
Chaucer, Manciple's Tale, I. 100. 
Then like a king he was to her exprest, 
And offred kingdoms unto her in vew, 
To be his Leman and his Lady trew. 
Spenser, V. Q., III. viil. 40. 
As Jealous as Ford, that searched a hollow walnut for 
his wife's leman. Shot.. M. W. of W., iv. i 172. 
Lemanea (le-ma'ne-a), . [NL. (Bory de 
Saint- Vincent, about 1801), named after M; 
Leman, a French botanist.] A genvis of florid- 
eons algte, the type of the family Lcmanea- 
cetr. 
Lemaneaceae (le-ma-ne-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (L. 
Rabenhorst, about 18^4), <' Lemanea + -acece.] 
A small family of fresh-water algee of the order 
Flvride<t. growing in tuft.s of a gray, olive- 
brown, or darker color, in rapidly running wa- 
ter, as under mill-wheels. The filiform ami car- 
tilaginous thallus is simple or sparsely branched, h.>llw 
and more or less nodose. Tetraspores are wanting; the 
leme'-'t. A Middle English form of '<//< '. '/,- 
Mr. 
leming, . See lemming. 
lemma (lem'a), n. ; pi. lemmata (-a-tft). [=: F. 
lemme = Sp. Pg. lemu. = It. lemma,'<. L. lemma, a 
theme, < Gr. H/p/ai, anything received or taken, 
lemniscate 
linn; including the lemmings and some other 
arvicolines. 
Lemna (lem'nft), n. [NL. (Linnaeus), < Gr. / 
a water-plant.] 
A genuH of mo- 
nocotyledouous 
plants, type of 
the order Lem- 
nili'nv. It Is dls- 
tlnguUhed from 
WttlJKa, the only 
othtT genus of the 
order, by having 
the flowers devel- 
oped on the mar- 
gin of the frond in* 
toad of from a pit 
In the upper sur- 
face. Distributed 
about the temper- 
ate and tropical re- 
gions of the world 
are seven species, 
known as duck- 
weed, some of them 
the smallest of 
flowering plants. 
a thing taken for granted, < /M/tjJaveiv, 2d aor. 
(ieiv, take. = Skt. / rabh, take. Cf. labis, etc. 
Hence dilemma, trilemma.] 1. In logic: (a) In 
the Stoical logic (1) The major premise of a 
hypothetical syllogism, or modus ponens : thus, 
in the reasoning, "If it is day, it is light; but it 
is day: hence, it is light, the first premise 
was called the lemma. (2) A premise in general. 
(6) A Megaric sophism depending on the ques- 
tion whether a man who says "I am lying" is 
truly lying or not. 2. In math., a proposition 
upon which it is necessary to arrest the atten- 
tion for the sake of proving an ulterior one, but 
which interrupts the regular series of theo- 
rems; also, a premise drawn from another 
branch of mathematics than that under con- 
sideration. 3. A theme; a thesis; the subject 
of an epigram, or of a musical composition, 
etc. | A Latinism.] 
In the year 1445, several pageants were exhibited at 
Panl's-gate, with verses written by Lydgate on the fol- 
lowing ! iiuii'tfii : . . . Five wise and five foolish virgins, 
Of st. Margaret, etc. 
T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, III. 168, note. 
4. In embryol., the primary or outer layer of 
the germinal vesicle. -Poscoe. = gyn. Seein/ermce. 
lemmergeyer, . See lammergeier. 
lemming, leming (lem'ing), . [< Norw. lem- 
ming, also lemende, limende = Sw. lemming = 
Dan. lemming, a lemming, according to Aasen lit. 
'destroying,' with ref. to its ravages, < Norw. leni- 
ja, maim, strike, beat, = E. lame 1 , v. ; but the vari- 
ations of form indicate a foreign origin, perhaps 
Lappish: cf. Lapp, loumek, a lemming. Hence 
NL. Lemmas.] A rodent quadruped of the fam- 
ily Miiriiln; subfamily Arvicolina;, and one of the 
genera Myodes, Cuniculus, and Synaptomys (see 
these terms). The common European lemming, Mia 
lemmug of Linnaeus, now Myodet lemmut, to which alone 
the name originally pertained, inhabits Norway, Sweden, 
Lapland, and other northern countries. It is about 5 inches 
' 
I. Lemna minor, towering plants : a. in- 
loaUon florescence; 6. pistil cut longitudinally; ,, 
the surface of the fruit a- Lemna trituUa. 3. Lemna fibba. 
water, and bears 
below a few thread-like roots, and above one or more mo- 
nceciouB flowers. 
Lemnaceae (lem-na ' se -e), n. pi. [NL. (S. L. 
Endlicher, 1840),< Lemna 4- -acea-.'] An order of 
monocotyledonous water-plants, the duckweed 
family, distinguished by tne absence of a dis- 
tinct stem or foliage, and producing one or afew 
monmcious or dioeciouit flowers from the edge 
or upper surface of the frond. There are two genera, 
Lemna and Wolffia, both generally distributed throughout 
the temperate and tropical regions of the world. 
lemnad (lem'nad), . [< NL. Lemna + -ad 1 .] 
A plant of the order Lemnacecr ; a duckweed : 
used in the plural by Lindley for the Lemnacea; 
or duckweed family. 
Lemnian (lem'ni-an), n. [< L. Lemnitu (< Gr. 
Ai?/mof), Lemnianj< Lemnos, Lemnus, < Gr. \tjft- 
vof, Lemnos, an island in the jEgean sea.] 
Of or pertaining to Lemnos, an island in the 
.K^'i'uii sea. Lemnian earth, a kind of astringent 
earth, of fatty consistence and reddish color, used medi- 
cinally in the same cases as the other boles. It has the 
external appearance of clay, with a smooth surface re- 
sembling agate, especially in recent fractures. Like soap, 
it removes impurities. Like kaolin, to which It Is re- 
lated, it has its origin in the decomposition of feldspathic 
rocks. See /We'-'. Ti^mnlftn ruddle, a sort of red chalk 
obtained from deposits in Lemnos, and used as a coloring 
material. 
lemniscate (lem-nis'kat), n. and n. [< NL. lem- 
niscata, fern, of L. Icmnincatus, adorned with pen- 
dent ribbons, < Icmniscus, a ribbon : see lem- 
niseus."] I. a. 1. In math., related to the lem- 
niscate of Bernoulli. 2. In ii-htli.. having a 
hyaline or transparent appearance and ribbon- 
like form ; of or relating to the Lemniscati : as, a 
lemniscate fish Lemniscate function, the function 
of which the lemniscate integral is the inverse. Lemnis- 
cate Integral, the elliptic Integral 
/ dx 
which Is exhibited In the qnlncunclal projection of the 
sphere. 
U. a. In math.: (a) The locus of the point 
at which the tangent to an equilateral hyper- 
bola meets the perpendicular let fall upon it 
from the center: a curve invented by James 
Bernoulli. It may also be defined u the locus of the 
point the product of whose distances from two fixed points 
is a quarter of the square of the distance of those points 
from each other. It is a kind of Cassinian, and Is also a 
lemniscate in sense (c\ below. (6) Any crunodal curve 
of the fourth order having only one real branch, 
Fig. i. 
long and of varied coloration. It is very prolific, and vast 
hordes periodically mifrrate down to the sea, destroying 
much vegetation in their path. So numerous are they at 
times, and so sudden is their appearance, that they were 
fabled to rain down from the clouds. Large numbers of ra- 
pacious quadrupeds and birds hangupon their lineof march 
and materially diminish their numbers. These migrations 
are said to portend a hard winter. M. tehutieotor is a 
plain slaty gray species of Siberia. M. obriaii is a bright 
rusty-brown species inhabiting arctic regions of both 
hemispheres and common in northwestern America. The 
lemming of the Hudson's Bay regions, Greenland, etc., is 
CuniniluK hitdtuniu* or torquatut, a species of which turns 
snow-white in winter; it is also called hare tailed mouse 
or rat, and by other names. A kind of false lemming, found 
in parts of the United States from Indiana and Kansas to 
Alaska, and also in llritish America, is Synaptomyt cooperi. 
There are several other nominal species. 
Lemmus (lem'us), . [NL., orig. a technical 
designation of the Norway lemming : see lem- 
ming.] A genus of MurMce, subfamily Arnco- 
oo 
Fig- 3- 
F*. 
FJ.4. 
Lemniscares. 
Fig. I. 8th class (.rt-t- j.rr x*+f*=01. 
Fig. 2,8thclass<jr4+ ico-rSrS jrl -H^S = 0). 
Fig. 3. loth class (.*. + &* t ** + J* = " 
Fig. 4, loth class , fishtail I [jrt + taxtj* + ta>f* **-rj* = 0). 
and this finite and symmetrical with respect to 
two axes. (This definition is an attempt to Interpret 
that of certain writers formerly in repute, who say that 
the lemniscate has the shape of an 8, but who give as the 
typical form a curve which, having a tacnodal acnoda 
at Infinity, Is not a biclrcular qnartic. Curves satisfying 
this definition are of the 10th, 8th, and 6th classes. See 
figures and Common.] ( c ) The locus of the point 
at which the tangent to a fixed conic is cut by 
a perpendicular let fall upon it from the center. 
