Part 156

La"bret (?), n. [L. labrum lip.] (Anthropology) A piece of wood, shell, stone, or other substance, worn in a perforation of the lip or cheek by many savages.

Lace, v. t. To twine or draw as a lace; to interlace; to intertwine.

The Gond . . . picked up a trail of the Karela, the vine that bears the bitter wild gourd, and laced it to and fro across the temble door.

Kipling.

Lach"ry*mals (?), n. pl. [See Lachrymal.] Tears; also, lachrymal feelings or organs. [Colloq.]

People go to the theaters to have . . . their risibles and lachrymals set agoing.

The Lutheran.

La*din" (?), n. A person speaking Ladin as a mother tongue.

La*di"no (?), n.; pl. - nos (&?;) 1. The mixed Spanish and Hebrew language spoken by Sephardim.

2. A cunningly vicious horse. [Southeastern U. S.]

3. A ladin.

La"dy's cloth` (?) A kind of broadcloth of light weight, used for women's dresses, cloaks, etc.

Lag, n. The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

{ La*gniappe (?), La*gnappe" (?) }, n. [Etym. uncertain.] In Louisiana, a trifling present given to customers by tradesmen; a gratuity.

Lagniappe . . .is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure.

Mark Twain.

||Lag"thing (?), n. [Norw. lagting, lagthing; lag company, society (akin to E. law, lay) + ting, thing, parliament. See Thing.] See Legislatature, below.

Lak"er (?), n. One that is connected with a lake or lakes, as in habitation, toil, etc.: (a) One of the poets of the Lake school. See Lake poets, under Lake, n. (b) (Zoöl.) A fish living in, or taken from, a lake, esp. the namaycush. (c) A lake steamer or canal boat.

The bridge tender . . . thought the Cowies "a little mite" longer than that laker.

The Century.

Lamb"kill` (?), n. (Bot.) A small American ericaceous shrub (Kalmia angustifolia); -- called also calfkill, sheepkill, sheep laurel, etc. It is supposed to poison sheep and other animals that eat it at times when the snow is deep and they cannot find other food.

||Land"drost` (?), n.; pl. - drosten (#). Sometimes incorrectly Landtrost. [D., fr. land land + drost a kind of official; akin to G. truchsess.] In Cape Colony: (a) A chief magistrate in rural districts. He was replaced in 1827 by "resident magistrates." (b) The president of the Heemraad.

Land League. In Ireland, a combination of tenant farmers and other, organized, with Charles Stewart Parnell as president, in 1879 with a view to the reduction of farm rents and a reconstruction of the land laws. -- Land"*lea`guer (#), n. -- Land"*lea`guism (#), n.

The Land League, of which Machael Davitt was the founder, originated in Mayo in August, and at a Dublin in October the organization was extended to all Ireland, with Parnell as president.

Encyc. Brit.

Land of Steady Habits. Connecticut; -- a nickname alluding to the moral character of its inhabitants, implied by the rigid laws (see Blue laws) of the early period.

||Lands"thing` (?), n. [Dan. landsthing, landsting, fr. land land + thing, ting, parliament. See Land; Thing.] (Denmark.) See Legislature, below.

||Land"storm` (?), n. [Sw.] See Varnpligtige.