leaden
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English leden, leaden, from Old English lēaden (“leaden, of lead”), equivalent to lead + -en. Cognate with West Frisian leaden (“leaden”), Dutch loden (“leaden”).
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editleaden (comparative more leaden, superlative most leaden)
- (dated) Made of lead.
- Pertaining to or resembling lead; grey, heavy, sluggish.
- 1819, John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 109:
- Where but to think is to be full of sorrow / And leaden-eyed despairs, / Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, / Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
- 1818-1819, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo
- [...] if man be
The passive thing you say, I should not see
Much harm in the religions and old saws
(Tho' I may never own such leaden laws)
Which break a teachless nature to the yoke.
- [...] if man be
- Dull; darkened with overcast.
- Synonyms: faint, wan; see also Thesaurus:dim
- the sky was leaden and thick
- 1999: Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 31 (2001 Perennial paperback edition)
- "It was at the end of February..., when the world was cold..., when icy rains fell from the leaden skies in continual drizzling showers."
Derived terms
editTranslations
editmade of lead
|
pertaining to or resembling lead
dull
Verb
editleaden (third-person singular simple present leadens, present participle leadening, simple past and past participle leadened)
- (transitive, intransitive) To make or become dull or overcast.
Anagrams
editMiddle English
editEtymology 1
editVerb
editleaden
- Alternative form of leden (“to lead”)
Etymology 2
editAdjective
editleaden
- Alternative form of leden (“leaden”)
Old English
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editlēaden
- Alternative form of līeden
Declension
editDeclension of lēaden — Strong
Declension of lēaden — Weak
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -en (made of)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛdən
- Rhymes:English/ɛdən/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English dated terms
- English terms with quotations
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- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
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- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
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