The Prisoner of Zenda (44 page)

lapse
NOUN
flow
Stealing with silent lapse to join the brook
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

larry
NOUN
larry is an old word which means commotion or noisy celebration
That was all a part of the larry!
(
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy)

laths
NOUN
laths are strips of wood
The panels shrunk, the windows cracked; fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling, and the naked laths were shown instead
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)

leer
NOUN
a leer is an unpleasant smile
with a kind of leer
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

lenitives
NOUN
these are different kinds of drugs or medicines: lenitives and palliatives were pain relievers; aperitives were laxatives; abstersives caused vomiting; corrosives destroyed human tissue; restringents caused constipation; cephalalgics stopped headaches; icterics were used as medicine for jaundice; apophlegmatics were cough medicine, and acoustics were cures for the loss of hearing
lenitives, aperitives, abstersives, corrosives, restringents, palliatives, laxatives, cephalalgics, icterics, apophlegmatics, acoustics
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

lest
CONJ
in case. If you do something lest something (usually) unpleasant happens you do it to try to prevent it happening
She went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest she should meet the real Mary Ann
(
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll)

levee
NOUN
a levee is an old term for a meeting held in the morning, shortly after the person holding the meeting has got out of bed
I used to attend the King's levee once or twice a week
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

life-preserver
NOUN
a club which had lead inside it to make it heavier and therefore more dangerous
and with no more suspicious articles displayed to view than two or three heavy bludgeons which stood in a corner, and a ‘life-preserver' that hung over the chimney-piece.
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

lighterman
NOUN
a lighterman is another word for sailor
in and out, hammers going in ship-builders' yards, saws going at timber, clashing engines going at things unknown, pumps going in leaky ships, capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea creatures roaring curses over the bulwarks at
respondent lightermen
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

livery
NOUN
servants often wore a uniform known as a livery
suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood
(
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll)

livid
ADJ
livid means pale or ash coloured. Livid also means very angry
a dirty, livid white
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

lottery-tickets
NOUN
a popular card game
and Mrs. Philips protested that they would have a nice
comfortable noisy game of lottery tickets
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)