Leaf
[liːf] or [lif]
Definition
(noun.) hinged or detachable flat section (as of a table or door).
(noun.) a sheet of any written or printed material (especially in a manuscript or book).
(noun.) the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants.
(verb.) produce leaves, of plants.
(verb.) turn over pages; 'leaf through a book'; 'leaf a manuscript'.
Checker: Lowell--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A colored, usually green, expansion growing from the side of a stem or rootstock, in which the sap for the use of the plant is elaborated under the influence of light; one of the parts of a plant which collectively constitute its foliage.
(n.) A special organ of vegetation in the form of a lateral outgrowth from the stem, whether appearing as a part of the foliage, or as a cotyledon, a scale, a bract, a spine, or a tendril.
(n.) Something which is like a leaf in being wide and thin and having a flat surface, or in being attached to a larger body by one edge or end; as : (a) A part of a book or folded sheet containing two pages upon its opposite sides. (b) A side, division, or part, that slides or is hinged, as of window shutters, folding doors, etc. (c) The movable side of a table. (d) A very thin plate; as, gold leaf. (e) A portion of fat lying in a separate fold or layer. (f) One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.
(v. i.) To shoot out leaves; to produce leaves; to leave; as, the trees leaf in May.
Editor: Rae
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Blade.
Editor: Ricky
Definition
n. one of the lateral organs developed from the stem or axis of the plant below its growing-point: anything beaten thin like a leaf: two pages of a book: one side of a window-shutter &c.:—pl. Leaves (lēvz).—v.i. to shoot out or produce leaves:—pr.p. leaf′ing; pa.p. leafed.—ns. Leaf′age leaves collectively: abundance of leaves: season of leaves or leafing; Leaf′-bridge a form of drawbridge in which the rising leaf or leaves swing vertically on hinges; Leaf′-bud a bud producing a stem with leaves only; Leaf′iness; Leaf′-in′sect an orthopterous insect of family Phasmid the wing-covers like leaves.—adj. Leaf′less destitute of leaves.—ns. Leaf′let a little leaf a tract; Leaf′-met′al metal especially alloys imitating gold and silver in very thin leaves for decoration; Leaf′-mould earth formed from decayed leaves used as a soil for plants; Leaf′-stalk the petiole supporting the leaf.—adj. Leaf′y full of leaves.—Take a leaf out of one's book (see Book); Turn over a new leaf to take up a new and better course of conduct.
Typist: Richard
Examples
- I lightly pushed the heavy leaf; would it yield? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- No leaf will decay because we are removed, nor any branch become motionless although we can observe you no longer! Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- He tore a leaf from his pocket-book, wrote a few words and gave it to me. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Presently Rose showed her the attention of asking, ere she turned the leaf, Are you ready? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- His face was as sharp as a hatchet, and the skin of it was as yellow and dry and withered as an autumn leaf. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Not many an English leaf or berry that I couldn't name. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Amy stood a minute, turning the leaves in her hand, reading on each some sweet rebuke for all heartburnings and uncharitableness of spirit. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- An inking roller, charged with an oily ink, is then passed over the stone and inks the drawing, but leaves all the other parts of the stone quite clean. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- There were villas with iron fences and big overgrown gardens and ditches with water flowing and green vegetable gardens with dust on the leaves. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Inasmuch as the nitrogen of liquid air evaporates first, and leaves nearly pure liquid oxygen, it may also be employed as a means for producing and applying oxygen. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The Jarndyce in question, said the Lord Chancellor, still turning over leaves, is Jarndyce of Bleak House. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- If she leaves no children---- Which she is likely to do? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
Inputed by Lilly