lead

noun

1. (uncountable)A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
2. (countable)A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or to estimate velocity in knots.
3. (countable, uncountable)A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
4. (uncountable)Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.

   “This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.”

5. (countable, uncountable)Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
6. (countable)A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.

   “I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top.”

   “These rooms were on a level with the apartments of our friends Bows and Costigan next door at No. 4; and by reaching over the communicating leads, Grady could command the mignonette-box which bloomed in Bows’s window.”

7. (countable)A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils.
8. (countable, slang, uncountable)Bullets; ammunition.

   “They pumped him full of lead.”

   “All my life I want money and power Respect my mind or die from lead shower”

9. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)X-ray protective clothing lined with lead.

   “You must remember to wear your leads.”

10. (countable)The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course

    “to take the lead”

    “to be under the lead of another”

    “At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, […] I am sure I did my country important service.”

11. (countable)Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in an incomplete game.

    “the white horse had the lead.”

    “to be in the lead”

    “She lost the lead.”

    “Smith managed to extend her lead over the second place to half a second.”

    “Blackburn then regained the lead with a simplest of set-piece goals”

12. (UK, countable)An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.
13. (countable, uncountable)The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.

    “The runner took his lead from first.”

14. (uncountable)The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played

    “your partner has the lead”

15. (countable, uncountable)The main role in a play or film; the lead role.

    “"You make moving pictures. In jungles and places." "That's me. And I've picked you for the lead in my next picture."”

16. (countable, uncountable)The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.
17. (countable, uncountable)The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.

    “John is the development lead on this software product.”

18. (countable)A channel of open water in an ice field.
19. (countable)A lode.
20. (countable, uncountable)The course of a rope from end to end.
21. (countable, uncountable)A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
22. (countable, uncountable)In a steam engine, 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.

    “Usage note: When used alone it means outside lead, or lead for the admission of steam. Inside lead refers to the release or exhaust.”

23. (countable, uncountable)The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
24. (countable, uncountable)The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.
25. (countable, uncountable)Hypothesis that has not been pursued

    “The investigation stalled when all leads turned out to be dead ends.”

26. (countable, uncountable)Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.

    “The police have a couple of leads they will follow to solve the case.”

27. (countable, uncountable)Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.

    “Joe is a great addition to our sales team, he has numerous leads in the paper industry.”

28. (countable, uncountable)Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
29. (countable, uncountable)The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
30. (US, countable, uncountable)The introductory paragraph or paragraphs of a newspaper, or a news or other type of article. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)
31. (countable, uncountable)An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
32. (countable, uncountable)The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
33. (countable, uncountable)In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor.
34. (countable, uncountable)The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.
35. (countable, uncountable)A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.
36. (countable, uncountable)A primary synth, often composed of square, sawtooth, triangle or sine waveforms.
37. (countable, uncountable)The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.
38. (countable, uncountable)The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.
39. (countable, uncountable)The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

verb

1. (transitive)To cover, fill, or affect with lead.

   “continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.”

2. (historical, transitive)To place leads between the lines of.

   “to lead a page”

   “leaded matter”

3. (transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “a father leads a child”

   “a jockey leads a horse with a halter”

   “a dog leads a blind man”

   “If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch.”

   “They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill.”

4. (transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “The guide was able to lead the tourists through the jungle safely.”

   “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way.”

   “He leadeth me beside the still waters.”

   “This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask. Content, though blind, had I no better guide.”

   “I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.”

5. (figuratively, transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “A good teacher should lead their students to the right answer.”

6. (transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “to lead a political party”

   “to lead the search team”

   “Christ took not upon him flesh and blood that he might conquer and rule nations, lead armies, or possess places.”

7. (transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “to lead someone to a righteous cause”

   “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”

   “Silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts.”

   “He was driven by the necessities of the times, more than led by his own disposition, to any rigor of actions.”

8. (transitive)To guide or conduct.

   “The evidence leads me to believe he is guilty.”

9. (intransitive)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 the transitive verb.
10. (transitive)To begin, to be ahead.

    “the big sloop led the fleet of yachts;  the Guards led the attack;  Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages”

    “1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.”

    “And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.”

    ““Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.”

11. (intransitive)To begin, to be ahead.

    “The standard-bearers led and the rest of the marchers followed.”

12. (intransitive)To begin, to be ahead.

    “It leads in the information technology sector.”

13. (transitive)To begin, to be ahead.

    “to lead trumps”

    “He led the ace of spades.”

14. (intransitive)To begin, to be ahead.
15. (intransitive)To begin, to be ahead.
16. To begin, to be ahead.

    “The batter always leads off base.”

17. To begin, to be ahead.
18. (transitive)To begin, to be ahead.
19. (intransitive)To tend or reach in a certain spatial direction, or to a certain place.

    “the path leads to the mill”

    “The mountain-foot that leads towards Mantua.”

20. (intransitive)To be a cause of.

    “gambling leads to other vices”

    “Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.”

    “All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism. That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. It is therefore dealing with pollution in two ways—suppression and mitigation.”

21. (transitive, usually)To live or experience (a particular way of life).

    “That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.”

    “Nor thou with shadow'd hint confuse / A life that leads melodious days.”

    “Follow me now and you will not regret / Leaving the life you led before we met. / You are the first to have this love of mine, / Forever with me till the end of time.”

22. Used in phrasal verbs: lead off, lead on, lead out, lead to (“be the cause of, bring about”), lead up, lead up to.
23. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of led.
24. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of led.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Foremost.

   “The contestants are all tied; no one has the lead position.”

   “For the first time ever, the senior architect and lead developer for a key enterprise system on NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover mission shares the secrets to one of the most difficult technology tasks […]”

2. (not-comparable)Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost.

   “the lead guitarist in band”

   “the lead developer on a software project”

   “Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's ex-prime minister, has missed a verdict in a negligence trial that could have seen her jailed, prompting the Supreme Court to say it will issue an arrest warrant fearing she is a flight risk, according to the lead judge in the case.”

name

1. A civil parish in North Yorkshire, England.
2. A city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States.