lead

adj

Etymology: From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”). Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”), Faroese and Icelandic leiða (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

1. 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. Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost.

   “the lead guitarist in band”

   “the lead developer on a software project”

name

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

noun

Etymology: From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”). Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”), Faroese and Icelandic leiða (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

1. The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course

   “to take the lead”

   “to be under the lead of another”

2. 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”

3. An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.
4. 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.”

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

   “your partner has the lead”

6. 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."”

7. The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.
8. The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.

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

9. A channel of open water in an ice field.
10. A lode.
11. The course of a rope from end to end.
12. A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
13. 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.”

14. The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
15. The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.
16. Hypothesis that has not been pursued

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

17. 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.”

18. 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.”

19. Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
20. The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
21. 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.)
22. An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
23. The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
24. In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor.
25. The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.
26. A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.
27. A primary synth, often composed of square, sawtooth, triangle or sine waveforms.
28. The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.
29. The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.
30. The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

verb

Etymology: Perhaps from a confusion or conflation with read, which has a single spelling for both past and present tenses, but has differing pronunciations in the same way as lead, i.e. the present's vowel is /i/, and the past's is /ɛ/. See also red and redd, the obsolete spellings of read.

1. Misspelling of led.