lead
lead is a 4-letter English word with 57 senses as noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic weight, 206.4. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide. Face value is 5 in Scrabble and 6 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.
Definitions
- noun. One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic weight, 206.4. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum). It is chiefly obtained from the mineral galena, lead sulphide.
- noun. An article made of lead or an alloy of lead
- noun. A plummet or mass of lead, used in sounding at sea.
- noun. A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- noun. Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs; hence, pl., a roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
- noun. A small cylinder of black lead or plumbago, used in pencils.
- transitive verb. To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.
- transitive verb. To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.
- transitive verb. To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man.
- transitive verb. To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, esp. by going with or going in advance of. Hence, figuratively: To direct; to counsel; to instruct; as, to lead a traveler; to lead a pupil.
- transitive verb. To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; as, to lead an army, an exploring party, or a search; to lead a political party.
- transitive verb. To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among; as, the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages.
- transitive verb. To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause.
- transitive verb. To guide or conduct one's self in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).
- transitive verb. To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps; the double five was led.
- intransitive verb. To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; -- used in most of the senses of lead, v. t.
- transitive verb. To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place; as, the path leads to the mill; gambling leads to other vices.
- noun. The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another.
- noun. precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; as, the white horse had the lead; a lead of a boat's length, or of half a second.
- noun. The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played; as, your partner has the lead.
- noun. An open way in an ice field.
- noun. A lode.
- noun. The course of a rope from end to end.
- noun. The width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.
- noun. the distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
- noun. The action of a tooth, as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.
- noun. the playing of a card to start a trick in bridge
"the lead was in the dummy"
- noun. a position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead')
"he takes the lead in any group"
"we were just waiting for someone to take the lead"
- noun. a jumper that consists of a short piece of wire
"it was a tangle of jumper cables and clip leads"
- noun. mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil
- noun. thin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing
- noun. restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal
- noun. the timing of ignition relative to the position of the piston in an internal-combustion engine
- noun. an advantage held by a competitor in a race
"he took the lead at the last turn"
- noun. evidence pointing to a possible solution
"the police are following a promising lead"
"the trail led straight to the perpetrator"
- noun. the introductory section of a story
"it was an amusing lead-in to a very serious matter"
- noun. a news story of major importance
- noun. an indication of potential opportunity
"he got a tip on the stock market"
"a good lead for a job"
- noun. (baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base
"he took a long lead off first"
- noun. an actor who plays a principal role
- noun. (sports) the score by which a team or individual is winning
- noun. the angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile)
- noun. a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull grey
"the children were playing with lead soldiers"
- verb. cause to undertake a certain action
"Her greed led her to forge the checks"
- verb. preside over
"John moderated the discussion"
- verb. lead, as in the performance of a composition
"conduct an orchestra; Barenboim conducted the Chicago symphony for years"
- verb. move ahead (of others) in time or space
- verb. travel in front of; go in advance of others
"The procession was headed by John"
- verb. take somebody somewhere
"We lead him to our chief"
"can you take me to the main entrance?"
- verb. be in charge of
"Who is heading this project?"
- verb. be conducive to
"The use of computers in the classroom lead to better writing"
- verb. have as a result or residue
"The water left a mark on the silk dress"
"Her blood left a stain on the napkin"
- verb. tend to or result in
"This remark lead to further arguments among the guests"
- verb. stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point
"Service runs all the way to Cranbury"
"His knowledge doesn't go very far"
- verb. lead, extend, or afford access
"This door goes to the basement"
"The road runs South"
- verb. cause something to pass or lead somewhere
"Run the wire behind the cabinet"
- verb. be ahead of others; be the first
"she topped her class every year"
Synonyms
leading, leash, tether, track, trail, lede, hint, steer, tip, wind, principal, star, pb, chair, moderate, conduct, direct, precede, head, guide, take, conduce, contribute, leave
Anagrams
Other playable words that use exactly the letters in lead:
Common word forms
leads, leaded, leaden, leader, leading, leadable, leadless
Words from these letters
If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for LEAD lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.