“leads” is a form of
lead
/ˈlɛd/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms leads leading leaded led leadest ledst ledest leadeth lede leed
- noun (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.
- noun (countable, nautical) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or to estimate velocity in knots.
- noun A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- noun (uncountable, typography) 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.”
- noun Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
- noun (countable) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
- noun (countable) A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils.
- noun (slang) Bullets; ammunition. “They pumped him full of lead.”
- verb (transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead. “continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.”
- verb (transitive, printing, historical) To place leads between the lines of. “to lead a page”
- verb To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection. “a father leads a child”
- verb To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions. “The guide was able to lead the tourists through the jungle safely.”
- verb (figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct. “A good teacher should lead their students to the right answer.”
- verb To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit. “to lead a political party”
- verb To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure. “to lead someone to a righteous cause”
- verb To influence towards a belief, a conclusion, etc. “The evidence leads me to believe he is guilty.”
- verb (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.
- verb (transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among. “the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages”
- noun (countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course “to take the lead”
- noun (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.”
Synonyms
mul:Pb plumbum leaden plumbic plumbous leaded leady saturnine pencil lead spearhead head front lead to lead paragraph first leader leading Pb atomic number 82 track trail lead-in lede star principal tip steer confidential information wind hint
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”).
Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow.
* (graphite in a pencil): Graphite was once believed to be a form of lead; see black lead and plumbago.
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”).
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One of the elements, a heavy, pliable, inelastic metal, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished. It is both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity, and is used for tubes, sheets, bullets, etc. Its specific gravity is 11.37. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic weight, 206.4. Symbol Pb (L. Plumbum).
- noun An article made of lead or an alloy of lead; as: (a) A plummet or mass of lead, used in sounding at sea. (b) (Print.) A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- verb To cover, fill, or affect with lead; as, continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.
- verb To place leads between the lines of; as, to lead a page; leaded matter.
Etymology [OE. led, leed, lead, AS. leád; akin to D. lood, MHG. lot, G. loth plummet, sounding lead, small weight, Sw. & Dan. lod. sq. root123]
Etymology [OE. leden, AS. l (akin to OS. l, D. leiden, G. leiten,Icel. le, Sw. leda, Dan.lede), properly a causative fr. AS. li to go; akin to OHG. l, Icel. l,Goth. leipan (in comp.). Cf. Lode, Loath.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lead”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details