lede
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: lēd, IPA(key): /liːd/
- Rhymes: -iːd
Etymology 1
From Middle English lede, leode, from Old English lēode ("people, men"; plural of lēod (“person, man”)), from Proto-Germanic *liudiz (“people”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léwdʰis (“man, people”). Cognate with Scots lede (“people”), West Frisian lie (“people”), Dutch lieden (“people”), lui(den) (“people”), German Leute (“people”), Norwegian lyd (“people”). More at leod.
Noun
lede (plural lede)
- (now chiefly Britain dialectal, singular) A man; person.
- 2014, original 1650, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, volume 3, page 355:
- And after to Callice hee arriued, Like a noble leed of high degree, […]
-
- (chiefly Britain dialectal, Scotland, collective plural) Men; people, folk.
- 1838, Joseph Bosworth, A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language:
- Sweet, yes sweet is over (beyond) measure
The marrying for the young lede (people); […]
- 1876, (translated by) Henry Morley, Shorter English Poems:
- He said, "Gramercy, liege King,
This is to me a comforting:
I tell you sickerly
For to have land or lede
Or other riches, so God me speed,
It is too much for me. […] "
- 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.
-
- (Britain dialectal, Scotland, singular) A people or nation.
- (chiefly Britain dialectal, plural) Tenements; holdings; possessions.
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”) and dek (“subhead”).
Alternative forms
Noun
lede (plural ledes)
- (chiefly US, journalism) The introductory paragraph(s) of a newspaper or other news article.
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]
Quotations
- For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:lede.
Derived terms
- bury the lede
- lede to kum
- nulede
See also
- Glossary of journalism: Article components
References
- William Safire (1990), "On Language; (HED) Folo My Lede (UNHED)", New York Times, November 18, 1990, Nytimes.com
- WOTD (2000), "The Maven's Word of the Day: lede", November 28, 2000, www.randomhouse.com
- Notes:
- WOTD 2000
- 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.
- Lede in Merriam-Webster Online
- Lede in the American Heritage Dictionary
- 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"
Afrikaans
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /leːdə/, [ˈleːðə]
- Rhymes: -ðə
Antonyms
Etymology 2
See led (“disgusting”).
Verb
lede (imperative led, present leder, past ledede or ledte, past participle ledet or ledt, present participle ledende)
Derived terms
- (conduct): ledende (< halvledende, superledende, varmeledende et al.), leder (< halvleder, superleder et al.)
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -eːdə
Galician
Middle Dutch
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
lede (imperative led, present tense leder, passive ledes, simple past and past participle leda or ledet, present participle ledende)
See also
- leie (Nynorsk)