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[lay the blame at one's door] To say that another person or group is responsible for one's own failure. * /The angry coach laid the blame at the door of the players when our college lost the basketball game./

[lay the fault at one's door] See: LAY THE BLAME AT ONE'S DOOR.

[lay their heads together] See: PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER.

[lay to] 1. To give the blame or credit to; to name as cause. * /He was unpopular and when he made money, it was laid to his dishonesty, but when he lost money, it was laid to his stupidity./ Compare: LAY AT ONE'S DOOR. 2. To hold a ship or boat still against the wind. * /The pirates decided to lay to that night and go ashore in the morning./ Compare: LIE TO. 3. To exert oneself; to work hard. * /He picked up a shovel and laid to with the rest of the gang./

[lay to heart] See: TAKE TO HEART.

[lay to rest] , 1. To put a dead person into a grave or tomb; bury. * /President Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery./ 2. To get rid of; put away permanently; stop. * /The Scoutmaster's fears that Tom had drowned were laid to rest when Tom came back and said he had gone for a boat ride./ * /The rumor that the principal had accepted another job was laid to rest when he said it wasn't true./

[lay up] 1. To collect a supply of; save for future, use; store. * /Bees lay up honey for the winter./ 2. To keep in the house or in bed because of sickness or injury; disable. * /Jack was laid up with a twisted knee and couldn't play in the final game./ 3. To take out of active service; put in a boat dock or a garage. * /Bill had to lay up his boat when school started./ * /If you lay up a car for the winter, you should take out the battery./

[lay waste] , To cause wide and great damage to; destroy and leave in ruins; wreck. * /Enemy soldiers laid waste the land./

[lead] See: ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME, BLIND LEADING THE BLIND.

[lead] See: GET THE LEAD OUT OF ONE'S PANTS.

[lead a dog's life] , To live a hard life, work hard, and be treated unkindly. * /A new college student of long ago led a dog's life./

[lead a merry chase] To delay or escape capture by (someone) skillfully; make (a pursuer) work hard. * /The deer led the hunter a merry chase./ * /Valerie is leading her boyfriend a merry chase./

[lead by the nose] , To have full control of; make or persuade (someone) to do anything whatever. * /Many people are easily influenced and a smart politician can lead them by the nose./ * /Don't let anyone lead you by the nose; use your own judgment and do the right thing./

[leader] See: MAJORITY LEADER, MINORITY LEADER.

[lead-footed] See: HEAVY-FOOTED.

[leading light] A prominent person in a community, company, or group. * /Alan is the leading light of our discussion group on music./

[lead off] To begin; start; open. * /Richardson led off the inning with a double./ * /We always let Henry lead off./ * /Mr. Jones led off with the jack of diamonds./ * /When the teacher asked if the film helped them to understand, Phil led off by saying that he learned a lot from it./

[lead on] To encourage you to believe something untrue or mistaken. * /Tom led us on to believe that he was a world traveler, but we found out that he had never been outside our state./ * /We were led on to think that Jeanne and Jim were engaged to be married./

[lead one a merry dance] To cause someone unusual discomfort or expense; tire someone by causing one to overdo. * /With her personal extravagances and constant social activities that cost a fortune, Carol led her husband a merry dance./

[lead the way] To go before and show how to go somewhere; guide. * /The boys need someone to lead the way on their hike./ * /The men hired an Indian to lead the way to the Pueblo ruins./ * /That school led the way in finding methods to teach reading./

[lead to] To result in. * /Such a heavy arms race can only lead to war./

[leaf] See: TURN OVER A NEW LEAF.

[leaf through] To scan or glance through a book or other reading matter. * /I only had time to leaf through the program before the concert started./

[league] See: IN LEAGUE WITH, IVY LEAGUE.

[leaguer] See: TEXAS LEAGUER.

[leak out] To become known; escape. * /The famous beauty queen tried to keep her marriage a secret, but news of it soon leaked out./

[leak to] To purposely let a secret be known, as if conveying it in the strictest confidence. * /The movie star's secret divorce was leaked to the tabloids by her housekeeper./

[lean on] , , To pressure (someone) by blackmailing, threats, physical violence, or the withholding of some favor in order to make the person comply with a wish or request. * /I would gladly do what you ask if you only stopped leaning on me so hard!/

[lean over backward] See: BEND OVER BACKWARD.

[lean-to] 1. A shed for tools, such as spades, hoes, etc., attached to the wall of a house, * /Joe looked for the garden hose in the lean-to./ 2. A small cabin in the country. * /They spend their weekends in their modest lean-to in Wisconsin./

[leap] See: BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

[leap year] Every fourth year during which the month of February contains 29 rather than 28 days. * /During a leap year one must wait a day longer for one's February pay check./

[learn] See: LIVE AND LEARN.

[learn by heart] See: BY HEART.

[learn by rote] To blindly memorize what was taught without thinking about it. * /If you learn a subject by rote, it will be difficult to say anything original about it./

[learn one's way around] See: KNOW ONE'S WAY AROUND.

[learn the hard way] See: HARD WAY.

[learn the ropes] See: THE ROPES.

[least] See: AT LEAST, IN THE LEAST, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE.

[leatherneck] , , A member of the United States Marine Corps. * /I didn't know your son Joe became a leatherneck./

[leave] See: SHORE LEAVE, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT, TAKE LEAVE OF, TAKE ONE'S LEAVE.

[leave a bad taste in one's mouth] To feel a bad impression; make you feel disgusted. * /Seeing a man beat his horse leaves a bad taste in your mouth./ * /His rudeness to the teacher left a bad taste in my mouth./

[leave alone] See: LET ALONE.

[leave at the altar] 1. To decide not to marry someone in the last minute; jilt. * /Ed left poor Susan at the altar./ 2. To overlook and skip for promotion; not fulfill deserved expectation. * /Once again I didn't get my promotion and was left at the altar./

[leave behind] 1. Abandon. * /Refugees on the run must sometimes leave old and sick people behind./ 2. To forget; go away without. * /We had reached our car when we noticed that we had left our keys behind./

[leave flat] , To quit or leave suddenly without warning when wanted or needed; desert; forsake; abandon. * /Sam found that being a member of the trail-clearing group was a lot of hard work, so he left them flat./ * /My car ran out of gas and left me flat, ten miles from town./ Compare: LEAVE IN THE LURCH, WALK OUT(2).

[leave hanging] or [leave hanging in the air] To leave undecided or unsettled. * /Because the committee could not decide on a time and place, the matter of the spring dance was left hanging./ * /Ted's mother didn't know what to do about the broken window, so his punishment was left hanging in the air until his father came home./ Compare: UP IN THE AIR.

[leave high and dry] See: HIGH AND DRY.

[leave holding the bag] or [leave holding the sack] , 1. To cause (someone) not to have something needed; leave without anything, * /In the rush for seats, Joe was left holding the bag./ 2. To force (someone) to take the whole responsibility or blame for something that others should share. * /When the ball hit the glass, the team scattered and left George holding the bag./ * /After the party, the other girls on the clean-up committee went away with their dates, and left Mary holding the bag./

[leave in the lurch] To desert or leave alone in trouble; refuse to help or support. * /The town bully caught Eddie, and Tom left him in the lurch./ * /Bill quit his job, leaving his boss in the lurch./ Compare: LEAVE FLAT, HIGH AND DRY(2), WALK OUT(2).

[leave it at that] To avoid further and more acrimonious disagreement; not argue or discuss any further. * /Our opinion on health care is obviously different, so let's just leave it at that./

[leave no stone unturned] To try in every way; miss no chance; do everything possible. - Usually used in the negative. * /The police will leave no stone unturned in their search for the bank robbers./ Compare: ALL OUT, BEND HEAVEN AND EARTH, FINE-TOOTH COMB.

[leave off] To come or put to an end; stop. * /There is a high fence where the school yard leaves off and the woods begin./ * /Don told the boys to leave off teasing his little brother./ * /Marion put a marker in her book so that she would know where she left off./ Contrast: TAKE UP.

[leave one's mark] To leave an impression upon; influence someone. * /Tolstoy never won the Nobel Prize, but he left his mark on world literature./ See: MAKE ONE'S MARK.

[leave open] To remain temporarily unsettled; subject to further discussion. * /Brad said that the question of health insurance would be left open until some future date./

[leave out] To skip; omit. * /The printer accidentally left out two paragraphs from Alan's novel./

[leave out in the cold] See: OUT IN THE COLD.

[leave out of account] To fail to consider; forget about. * /The picnic planners left out of account that it might rain./ Contrast: TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.

[leave-taking] See: TAKE ONE'S LEAVE.

[leave the matter open] See: LEAVE OPEN.

[leave well enough alone] See: LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE.

[leave without a leg to stand on] See: LEG TO STAND ON.

[leave word with] To leave a message. * /Hank left word with his secretary where he could be reached by phone while he was away from his office./

[left] See: OUT IN LEFT FIELD, RIGHT AND LEFT.

[left field] 1. The part of a baseball out-field to the batter's left. * /Right-handed batters usually hit to left field./ Compare: CENTER FIELD, RIGHT FIELD. 2. See: OUT IN LEFT FIELD. - [left fielder] The player in baseball who plays in left field. * /The scoreboard in the ball park is on the fence behind the left fielder./

[left-handed] , 1. Using the left hand habitually. 2. Crooked; phoney; homosexual. * /Morris is such a left-handed guy./ 3. Clumsy; untoward; awkward. * /Grab that hammer and stop acting so left-handed./

[left-handed compliment] An ambiguous compliment which is interpretable as an offense. * /I didn't know you could look so pretty! Is that a wig you're wearing?/

[left-wing] That which is or belongs to a group of people in politics that favors radical change in the direction of socialism or communism. * /The left-wing faction called for an immediate strike./

[leg] See: ON ONE'S LAST LEGS, PULL ONE'S LEG, SHAKE A LEG, TAIL BETWEEN ONE'S LEGS.

[legal age] or [lawful age] The age at which a person is allowed to do a certain thing or is held responsible for an action. * /In most states the legal age for voting is 27./ * /He could not get a driver's license because he was not of lawful age./

[leg man] , 1. An errand boy; one who performs messenger services, or the like. * /Joe hired a leg man for the office./ 2. , , A man who is particularly attracted to good looking female legs and pays less attention to other parts of the female anatomy. * /Herb is a leg man./

[leg-pulling] See: PULL ONE'S LEG.

[Legree] See: SIMON LEGREE.

[leg to stand on] A firm foundation of facts; facts to support your claim. - Usually used in the negative. * /Jerry's answering speech left his opponent without a leg to stand on./ * /Amos sued for damages, but did not have a leg to stand on./

[leg work] , The physical end of a project, such as the typing of research reports; the physical investigating of a criminal affair; the carrying of books to and from libraries; etc. * /Joe, my research assistant, does a lot of leg work for me./