Definify.com

Definition 2024


lede

lede

See also: leđe

English

Alternative forms

Noun

lede (plural lede)

  1. (Now chiefly Britain dialectal, singular) A man; person.
  2. (chiefly Britain dialectal, Scotland, collective plural) Men; people, folk.
    • 2012, Yahoo! Canada Answers - Is Jesus God? Did Jesus ever claim to be God?:
      If Jesus were not God, He would have told lede to not worship Him, just as the errand-ghost in Bring to Lightings did.
  3. (Britain dialectal, Scotland, singular) A people or nation.
  4. (Now chiefly Britain dialectal, plural) Tenements; holdings; possessions.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Mid-20th century neologism from a deliberate misspelling of lead, intended to avoid confusion with its homograph meaning a strip of type metal used for positioning type in the frame.[1] Compare hed (headline).

Alternative forms

Noun

lede (plural ledes)

  1. (chiefly US, journalism) The introductory paragraph(s) of a newspaper or other news article.
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:lede.
Usage notes

Usage seems mostly confined to the U.S.[2] Originally only journalistic usage that is now so common in general US English that it is no longer labeled as jargon by major US dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster[3] and American Heritage.[4] Noted as “sometimes spelled” in 1959, “often spelled” in 1969, and asserted in the 1979 reprint of a 1974 book (see Citations page). In 1990, William Safire was still able to say that "lede" was jargon not listed in regular dictionaries.[5][1]

Derived terms

See also

  • Glossary of journalism: Article components

References

  1. 1 2 WOTD 2000
  2. Current citations in Wiktionary, listed here, are from US sources. The only occurrence found in 2008 on The Guardian website is made by the “editor of Guardian America”, saying “The lede (as we spell it) story in today’s NYT is ...” on his op/ed blog. Other occurrences on .co.uk sites all quote the lead/lede Wikipedia articles.
  3. Lede in Merriam-Webster Online
  4. Lede in the American Heritage Dictionary
  5. Safire 1990: "You will not find this spelling in dictionaries; it is still an insiders' variant, steadily growing in frequency of use. [...] Will lede break out of its insider status and find its way into general use? [...] To suggest this is becoming standard would be misledeing"

Anagrams


Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leːdə/, [ˈleːðə]
  • Rhymes: -ðə

Etymology 1

From Old Norse leiða.

Noun

lede c (singular definite leden, not used in plural form)

  1. disgust, distaste, loathing
Antonyms

Etymology 2

See led (disgusting).

Adjective

lede

  1. definite of led
  2. plural of led

Etymology 3

From Old Norse leiða (to lead).

Verb

lede (imperative led, present leder, past ledede or ledte, past participle ledet or ledt, present participle ledende)

  1. manage, run
  2. head, direct
  3. lead, guide
  4. conduct

Etymology 4

From Old Norse leita (seek, search)

Verb

lede (imperative led, infinitive at lede, present tense leder, past tense ledte, perfect tense har ledt)

  1. look
  2. search

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -eːdə

Verb

lede

  1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of lijden

Anagrams


Galician

Verb

lede

  1. second-person plural imperative of ler

Italian

Verb

lede

  1. third-person singular indicative present of ledere

Middle English

Noun

lede (plural ledes)

  1. Alternative form of leod

Verb

lede

  1. lead

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse leiða, and Danish lede

Verb

lede (imperative led, present tense leder, passive ledes, simple past and past participle leda or ledet, present participle ledende)

  1. to lead
  2. to guide

Derived terms

References


Portuguese

Verb

lede

  1. Second-person plural (vós) affirmative imperative of ler

Swedish

Etymology

From the nounal use (masculine inflection) of adjective led (evil), in the more original synonym den lede frestaren (the evil tempter)

Adjective

lede

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of led.

Noun

lede c

  1. the evil one, the loathsome or disgusting one; the devil, Satan