ley

See also: Ley and leþ

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

See lea.

Noun

ley (plural leys)

1. Alternative spelling of lea
2. 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: […]

Derived terms

• Blackbird Leys

Adjective

ley (not comparable)

1. (agriculture) Fallow; unseeded.
2. (agriculture) Rotated to pasture instead of cropping.

Etymology 2

Noun

ley

1. Archaic form of lye.

Etymology 3

Noun

ley

1. (obsolete) Law.

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Anagrams

• Ely, Lye, lye, yel

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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 (whence English legal and legitimate), from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s, from *leǵ- (“to gather”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlei/, [ˈlei̯]

• Audio

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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

Hyponyms

• ley del buen samaritano
• ley natural (“natural law”)

 

Derived terms

• con todas las de la ley
• de buena ley
• de mala ley
• fuera de la ley
• hecha la ley, hecha la trampa
• imperio de la ley
• ley de Coulomb
• ley de Hooke
• ley de la selva
• ley del embudo
• ley del silencio
• ley de Murphy
• ley de Ohm
• ley de vida
• ley orgánica
• ley seca
• proyecto de ley
• proyecto de ley (“bill, draft law”)
• quebrar la ley, quebrantar la ley (“to break the law”)
• tablas de la ley

 

Related terms

• leal
• legal
• legislar
• legítimo
• lindo

Further reading

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