Lead Meaning

/ˈlɛd/
A2

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).

nounA plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or to estimate velocity in knots.

The fiscal austerity may lead to an overkill of the economy.
Students took the lead in the campaign against pollution.
There were fears that privatization would lead to job losses.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The experienced guide will ____ the tourists through the famous ancient museum.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The experienced guide will ____ the group of tourists through the narrow and winding streets of the old city.

From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow. * (graphite in a pencil): Graphite was once believed to be a form of lead; see black lead and plumbago.

"I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top." — 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Building”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
"These rooms were on a level with the apartments of our friends Bows and Costigan next door at No. 4; and by reaching over the communicating leads, Grady could command the mignonette-box which bloomed in Bows’s window." — 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
"All my life I want money and power Respect my mind or die from lead shower" — 2012, “Backseat Freestyle”, performed by Kendrick Lamar:
"If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 15:14:
"They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 4:29:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The experienced guide will ____ the tourists through the famous ancient museum.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The experienced guide will ____ the group of tourists through the narrow and winding streets of the old city.

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