Leash Meaning
/liːʃ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog.
nounA brace and a half; a tierce.
Sentence Examples
As soon as I let go of the leash, the dog ran away.
If you want to buy a leash, go to a pet shop.
Tom had a dog on a short leash.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dog owner held the ____ tightly to prevent the excited pet from running into traffic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should always keep your dog on a ____ when you are walking it in a busy public area for safety today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English leesshe, leysche, lesshe, a variant of more original lease, from Middle English lees, leese, leece, lese, from Old French lesse (modern French laisse), either from Latin laxa, feminine form of laxus (“loose”) or, more probably, from a deverbal of Old French lesser, laissier, from Latin laxāre (“loose”); compare lax. Doublet of laisse.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A stout woman upholstered in velvet, her flabby cheeks too much massaged, swirled by with her poodle straining at its leash"
— 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned:
"like a fawning greyhound in the leash"
— c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi]:
"Sirrah, I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers; and can call them all by their Christian names, as, Tom, Dick, and Francis."
— c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"[I] kept my chamber a leash of days."
— 1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
"It had an odd promiscuous tone, / As if h' had talk'd three parts in one; / Which made some think, when he did gabble, / Th' had heard three labourers of Babel; / Or Cerberus himself pronounce / A leash of languages at once."
— 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dog owner held the ____ tightly to prevent the excited pet from running into traffic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should always keep your dog on a ____ when you are walking it in a busy public area for safety today.