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LED   /lɛd/   Listen
verb
Lead  v. t.  (past & past part. led; pres. part. leading)  
1.
To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact or connection; as, a father leads a child; a jockey leads a horse with a halter; a dog leads a blind man. "If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch." "They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill." "In thy right hand lead with thee The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty."
2.
To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, esp. by going with or going in advance of. Hence, figuratively: To direct; to counsel; to instruct; as, to lead a traveler; to lead a pupil. "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way." "He leadeth me beside the still waters." "This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask. Content, though blind, had I no better guide."
3.
To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; as, to lead an army, an exploring party, or a search; to lead a political party. "Christ took not upon him flesh and blood that he might conquer and rule nations, lead armies, or possess places."
4.
To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among; as, the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages. "As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way." "And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest."
5.
To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure; as, to lead one to espouse a righteous cause. "He was driven by the necessities of the times, more than led by his own disposition, to any rigor of actions." "Silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts."
6.
To guide or conduct one's self in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course). "That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life." "Nor thou with shadowed hint confuse A life that leads melodious days." "You remember... the life he used to lead his wife and daughter."
7.
(Cards & Dominoes) To begin a game, round, or trick, with; as, to lead trumps; the double five was led.
To lead astray, to guide in a wrong way, or into error; to seduce from truth or rectitude.
To lead captive, to carry or bring into captivity.
To lead the way, to show the way by going in front; to act as guide.


Lead  v. i.  (past & past part. led; pres. part. leading)  
1.
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 lead, v. t.
2.
To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place; as, the path leads to the mill; gambling leads to other vices. "The mountain foot that leads towards Mantua."
To lead off or To lead out, to go first; to begin; as, Mickey Mantle led off in the fifth inning of the game.


Led  past, past part.  Of Lead.
Led captain. An obsequious follower or attendant. (Obs.)
Led horse, a sumpter horse, or a spare horse, that is led along.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Led" Quotes from Famous Books



... social needs, Of all to one another,—taught what sign Of visceral lightness, colored to a shade, May charm the genial gods, and what fair spots Commend the lung and liver. Burning so The limbs encased in fat, and the long chine, I led my mortals on to an art abstruse, And cleared their eyes to the image in the fire, Erst filmed in dark. Enough said now of this: For the other helps of man hid underground, The iron and the brass, silver and gold, Can any dare ...
— Story of Orestes - A Condensation of the Trilogy • Richard G. Moulton
... yellow stamens is so bushy and showy in some varieties that careless travelers have been led to report the flower as yellow in color, which ...
— Tea Leaves • Francis Leggett & Co.
... in the throng. But the yellow patch bobbed up again in the sunlight far beyond, and led him on, and on, and on, a breathless chase, down empty lanes and alley-ways, through unfrequented courts, among the warehouses and wharf-sheds along the river-front, into the kennels of Billingsgate, where the only sky ...
— Master Skylark • John Bennett
... disastrous as they seemed to be, and ominous of evil, were nevertheless attended with one good effect, of which, however, William at the time was not aware. They led Harold, in England, to imagine that the enterprise was abandoned, and so put him off his guard. There were in those days, as has already been remarked, no regular and public modes of intercommunication, by which intelligence of important movements and events ...
— William the Conqueror - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... Led by the mate, the men sprung aft, the points were soon cast off, and the reef-pendant eased off. The throat and peak halyards were manned, the main-sheet was slightly eased off, and the sail, thus enlarged, was hoisted to the mast. The ...
— The Pirate of the Mediterranean - A Tale of the Sea • W.H.G. Kingston


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