See also: Lever

EnglishEdit

 
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A lever
 
A lever diagram

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English lever, levore, levour, from Old French leveor, leveur (a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)), from Latin levātor (a lifter), from levō (to raise).

NounEdit

lever (plural levers)

  1. (mechanics) A rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (the fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied; — used for transmitting and modifying force and motion.
    1. Specifically, a bar of metal, wood or other rigid substance, used to exert a pressure, or sustain a weight, at one point of its length, by receiving a force or power at a second, and turning at a third on a fixed point called a fulcrum. It is usually named as the first of the six mechanical powers, and is of three kinds, according as either the fulcrum F, the weight W, or the power P, respectively, is situated between the other two, as in the figures.
  2. A small such piece to trigger or control a mechanical device (like a button).
  3. (mechanics) A bar, as a capstan bar, applied to a rotatory piece to turn it.
    • 2012 March 1, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, page 112-3:
      A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
  4. (mechanics) An arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it.
  5. (obsolete, except in generalized senses below) A crowbar.
    • 1613, John Marston; William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.1:
      My lord, I brained him with a lever my neighbour lent me, and he stood by and cried, ‘Strike home, old boy!’
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

VerbEdit

lever (third-person singular simple present levers, present participle levering, simple past and past participle levered)

  1. (transitive) To move with a lever.
    With great effort and a big crowbar I managed to lever the beam off the floor.
    • 1938, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 7, in Homage to Catalonia[2], London: Secker & Warburg:
      Someone found a pick and levered a burst plank out of the floor, and in a few minutes we had got a fire alight and our drenched clothes were steaming.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).
    • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 1:
      Suddenly he had levered himself up from the sofa, rocking the lame man violently, and was walking towards the receptionist.
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To use (something) like a lever (in an abstract sense).
    • 2001 April 9, Joshua Cooper Ramo, “Bagging the Butcher”, in Time:
      He was a man who levered his way from small-time communist hack to political power by tapping into the most potent vein of historical juice in the Balkans: nationalism.
    • 2013 December 8, Robert McCrum, “Biographies of the year — review”, in The Guardian:
      Credited with pioneering the detective novel, Collins has attracted many biographers over the years, drawn to his extraordinary life and work in the hope of levering open a new understanding of the Victorian psyche.
  4. (chiefly UK, finance) To increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.
    • 1989 June 26, “Corporate America wants its privacy”, in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
      "The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English lever, comparative of leve, leef (dear, beloved, lief), equivalent to lief +‎ -er. Related to German lieber (rather).

Alternative formsEdit

AdverbEdit

lever (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Rather.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Borrowed from French lever.

NounEdit

lever (plural levers)

  1. (rare) A levee.
    • 1742, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Delany's Letters, II.191:
      We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.
    • 2011 September 21, Tim Blanning, “The reinvention of the night”, in Times Literary Supplement:
      Louis XIV’s day began with a lever at 9 and ended (officially) at around midnight.

Further readingEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 lever”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 lever”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 lever”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

AnagramsEdit

DanishEdit

 
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Etymology 1Edit

From Old Danish liuær, from Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, cognate with English liver and German Leber. The Germanic word may be an irregular remodelling of the Proto-Indo-European word for "liver", *yókʷr̥, cf. Ancient Greek ἧπαρ (hêpar) and Latin iecur.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lever c (singular definite leveren, plural indefinite levere)

  1. liver
InflectionEdit

Etymology 2Edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈleːʋɐ], [ˈleːwɐ]

VerbEdit

lever

  1. present of leve

Etymology 3Edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

lever or levér

  1. imperative of levere

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-West Germanic *libru, from Proto-Germanic *librō.

NounEdit

lever f (plural levers, diminutive levertje n)

  1. liver
  2. edible animal liver as a dish or culinary ingredient
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • Afrikaans: lewer
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: lefre
  • Negerhollands: leber
  • Aukan: lebii
  • Indonesian: lever
  • Saramaccan: lebèn
  • Sranan Tongo: lefre
    • Caribbean Javanese: léfer

Etymology 2Edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

VerbEdit

lever

  1. first-person singular present indicative of leveren
  2. imperative of leveren

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Middle French lever, from Old French lever, from Latin levāre (to elevate), from levis (light, not heavy).

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

lever

  1. (transitive) to raise, lift
    Antonym: baisser
  2. (reflexive) to rise, stand up
    Antonym: s'abaisser
  3. (reflexive) (of celestial bodies) To rise, come up
    Antonym: se coucher
    Le Soleil se lève à l'est et se couche à l'ouest.The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
  4. (reflexive) to get up (out of bed)
    Je me lève, je me lave.I get up, I wash.
    Antonyms: se coucher, s'allonger
  5. (reflexive, of fog, rain and etc) to clear, lift

ConjugationEdit

This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il lève rather than *il leve. Other verbs conjugated this way include acheter and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.

Derived termsEdit

NounEdit

lever m (plural levers)

  1. the act of getting up in the morning

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

HungarianEdit

EtymologyEdit

le- +‎ ver

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛvɛr]
  • Hyphenation: le‧ver
  • Rhymes: -ɛr

VerbEdit

lever

  1. (transitive) to knock down

ConjugationEdit

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

  • lever in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

IndonesianEdit

 
Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
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EtymologyEdit

From Dutch lever (liver), from Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-Germanic *librō. Doublet of liver.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛvər]
  • Hyphenation: lè‧vêr

NounEdit

lèvêr (first-person possessive leverku, second-person possessive levermu, third-person possessive levernya)

  1. liver.
    Synonym: hati

Alternative formsEdit

Further readingEdit

LatinEdit

VerbEdit

lēver

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of lēvō

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Comparative of leve (dear) of Germanic origin (compare German lieb) or lief.

AdverbEdit

lever

  1. Rather.
    For him was lever have at his bed's head
    Twenty bookes, clad in black or red,
    . . . Than robes rich, or fithel, or gay sawtrie.
    The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
    But lever than this worldés good
    She would have wist how that it stood
    Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, John Gower.

Etymology 2Edit

NounEdit

lever

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (liver)

Etymology 3Edit

NounEdit

lever

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (living being)

Middle FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French lever.

VerbEdit

lever

  1. to lift

ConjugationEdit

  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

DescendantsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (lever, supplement)

Norwegian BokmålEdit

 
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PronunciationEdit

  This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide).

NounEdit

lever m or f (definite singular leveren or levra, indefinite plural levere or levre or levrer, definite plural leverne or levrene)

  1. (anatomy) a liver
  2. liver (eaten as food)
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

lever

  1. present tense of leve
  2. imperative of levere

ReferencesEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

Etymology 1Edit

 
Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide). Akin to English liver.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

lever f (definite singular levra, indefinite plural levrar or levrer, definite plural levrane or levrene)

  1. (anatomy) a liver
  2. liver (eaten as food)
Alternative formsEdit
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

lever

  1. present of leve

Further readingEdit

Old FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin lēvāre, present active infinitive of lēvō.

VerbEdit

lever

  1. to lift (up)
  2. (reflexive, se lever) to get up (get out of bed)

ConjugationEdit

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. This verb has a stressed present stem liev distinct from the unstressed stem lev. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

DescendantsEdit

Old SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse hleifr, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz.

NounEdit

lēver m

  1. loaf, bread

DeclensionEdit

DescendantsEdit

SwedishEdit

 
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PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide).

NounEdit

lever c

  1. (anatomy) a liver
DeclensionEdit
Declension of lever 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative lever levern levrar levrarna
Genitive levers leverns levrars levrarnas
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
  • levra (clot, coagulate)

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

lever

  1. present tense of leva.

Further readingEdit