ley

See also: Ley and leþ

Contents

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leɪ/, /liː/
• Rhymes: -eɪ, -iː

Noun

ley (countable and uncountable, plural leys)

1. Alternative spelling of lea
2. Archaic form of lye.
3. A ley line.
   • 2010, Philip Carr-Gomm, ‎Richard Heygate, The Book of English Magic

     For a ley hunter, local people – particularly the elderly – can be mines of information. Devereux and Thomson recount how they asked a septuagenarian in a remote village the location of an elusive stone, without mentioning the subject of leys: […]

4. (obsolete) law

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Abbott to this entry?)

Adjective

ley (not comparable)

1. (agriculture) fallow; unseeded.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

2. (agriculture) Rotated to pasture instead of cropping.

Anagrams

• Ely, lye, yel

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Interlingue

Noun

ley (plural leyes)

1. (obsolete) law

Synonyms

• lege

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English lēah, lēaġe (“a clearing in the woods”).

Noun

ley (plural leys)

1. an open field or meadow

Descendants

• English: ley, lea

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Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin lēgem, accusative of lēx. Compare Old French lei, loi.

Noun

ley f (oblique plural leys, nominative singular ley, nominative plural leys)

1. law

Descendants

• Catalan: llei
• Occitan: lei

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Portuguese

Noun

ley f (plural leys)

1. Obsolete spelling of lei

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin lēgem, singular accusative of lēx, from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s, from *leǵ- (“to gather”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lei̯/, [le̞i̯]

Noun

ley f (plural leyes)

1. law (a well-established characteristic of nature)
2. law (body of rules issued by a legislative body)
3. law (particular piece of legislation)
4. religion, credence, worship of a god

Derived terms

• quebraley

Related terms

• leal
• legal
• legislar
• legítimo
• lindo

Further reading

• “ley” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.