Part 653

Lep"rose` (lp"rs`), a. [See Leprous.] (Nat. Hist.) Covered with thin, scurfy scales.

Le*pros"i*ty (l*prs"*t), n. The state or quality of being leprous or scaly; also, a scale. Bacon.

Lep"ro*sy (lp"r*s), n. [See Leprous.] (Med.) A cutaneous disease which first appears as blebs or as reddish, shining, slightly prominent spots, with spreading edges. These are often followed by an eruption of dark or yellowish prominent nodules, frequently producing great deformity. In one variety of the disease, anæsthesia of the skin is a prominent symptom. In addition there may be wasting of the muscles, falling out of the hair and nails, and distortion of the hands and feet with destruction of the bones and joints. It is incurable, and is probably contagious.

The disease now called leprosy, also designated as Lepra or Lepra Arabum, and Elephantiasis Græcorum, is not the same as the leprosy of the ancients. The latter was, indeed, a generic name for many varieties of skin disease (including our modern leprosy, psoriasis, etc.), some of which, among the Hebrews, rendered a person ceremonially unclean. A variety of leprosy of the Hebrews (probably identical with modern leprosy) was characterized by the presence of smooth, shining, depressed white patches or scales, the hair on which participated in the whiteness, while the skin and adjacent flesh became insensible. It was an incurable disease.

Lep"rous (-rs), a. [OF. leprous, lepros, F. lépreux, fr. L. leprosus, fr. lepra, leprae, leprosy. See Leper.]

1. Infected with leprosy; pertaining to or resembling leprosy. "His hand was leprous as snow." Ex. iv. 6.

2. (Nat. Hist.) Leprose.

-- Lep"rous*ly, adv. -- Lep"rous*ness, n.

Lep"ry (-r), n. Leprosy. [Obs.] Holland.

Lep"ti*form (-t*fôrm), a. [Leptus + -form.] (Zoöl.) Having a form somewhat like leptus; -- said of active insect larvæ having three pairs of legs. See Larva.

||Lep`to*car"di*a (lp`t*kär"d*), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. lepto`s small + ||kardi`a the heart.] (Zoöl.) The lowest class of Vertebrata, including ||only the Amphioxus. The heart is represented only by a simple ||pulsating vessel. The blood is colorless; the brain, renal organs, ||and limbs are wanting, and the backbone is represented only by a ||simple, unsegmented notochord. See Amphioxus. [Written also ||Leptocardii.] || Lep`to*car"di*an (-an), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Leptocardia. -- n. One of the Leptocardia.

Lep`to*dac"tyl (-dk"tl), n. [Gr. lepto`s small, thin + da`ktylos finger, toe.] (Zoöl.) A bird or other animal having slender toes. [Written also lepodactyle.]

Lep`to*dac"tyl*ous (-s), a. Having slender toes.

Lep*tol"o*gy (lp*tl"*j), n. [Gr. leptologi`a; lepto`s small, subtile + lo`gos discourse.] A minute and tedious discourse on trifling things.

||Lep`to*men`in*gi"tis (lp`t*mn`n*j"ts), n. [NL., fr. Gr. lepto`s small ||+ meningitis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the pia mater or of the ||arachnoid membrane. || Lep"to*rhine (lp"t*rn or *rn), a. [Gr. lepto`s small + "ri`s, "rino`s, the nose.] (Anat.) Having the nose narrow; -- said esp. of the skull. Opposed to platyrhine.

||Lep*tos"tra*ca (lp*ts"tr*k), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. lepto`s thin, ||slender + 'o`strakon shell of a testacean.] (Zoöl.) An order of ||Crustacea, including Nebalia and allied forms. || ||Lep"to*thrix (lp"t*thrks), n. [NL., fr. Gr. lepto`s small + qri`x ||hair.] (Biol.) A genus of bacteria, characterized by having their ||filaments very long, slender, and indistinctly articulated. || ||Lep"to*thrix, a. [See Leptothrix, n. ] (Biol.) Having the form of a ||little chain; -- applied to bacteria when, as in multiplication by ||fission, they form a chain of filiform individuals. || ||Lep"tus (lp"ts), n. [NL., from Gr. lepto`s thin, small.] (Zoöl.) The ||six-legged young, or larva, of certain mites; -- sometimes used as a ||generic name. See Harvest mite, under Harvest. || Lep"ty*nite (lp"t*nt), n. (Min.) See Granulite.

Lere (lr), n. [See Lore knowledge.] Learning; lesson; lore. [Obs.] Spenser.

Lere, v. t. & i. [OE. leeren, leren, AS. lran. See Lore, Learn.] To learn; to teach. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Lere, a. Empty. [Obs.] See Leer, a.

Lere, n. [AS. lira flesh; cf. Icel. lær thigh.] Flesh; skin. [Obs.] "His white leer." Chaucer.

Ler"ed (lr"d), a. [From lere, v. t.] Learned. [Obs.] " Lewed man or lered." Chaucer.

||Ler*næ"a (lr*n"), n. [NL., fr. L. Lernaeus Lernæan, fr. Lerna, Gr. ||Le`rnh, a forest and marsh near Argos, the mythological abode of the ||hydra.] (Zoöl.) A Linnæan genus of parasitic Entomostraca, -- the ||same as the family Lernæidæ. || The genus is restricted by modern zoölogists to a limited number of species similar to Lernæa branchialis found on the gills of the cod.

||Ler`næ*a"ce*a (lr`n*"sh*), n. pl. [NL. See Lernæa.] (Zoöl.) A ||suborder of copepod Crustacea, including a large number of remarkable ||forms, mostly parasitic on fishes. The young, however, are active and ||swim freely. See Illustration in Appendix. || Ler*ne"an (lr*n"an), n. [See Lernæa.] (Zoöl.) One of a family (Lernæidæ) of parasitic Crustacea found attached to fishes and other marine animals. Some species penetrate the skin and flesh with the elongated head, and feed on the viscera. See Illust. in Appendix.

||Lé`rot" (l`r"), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) A small European rodent (Eliomys ||nitela), allied to the dormouse. || Les (ls), n. A leash. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Les"bi*an (ls"b*an), a. Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.

Lese (lz), v. t. To lose. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Lese`-maj"es*ty (-mj"s*t), n. See Leze majesty.

Le"sion (l"zhn), n. [F. lésion, L. laesio, fr. laedere, laesum, to hurt, injure.] A hurt; an injury. Specifically: (a) (Civil Law) Loss sustained from failure to fulfill a bargain or contract. Burrill. (b) (Med.) Any morbid change in the exercise of functions or the texture of organs. Dunglison.