Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
li . - noun The French definite article masculine (including the old neuter), much used in Middle English in names of French type, as Johan le Long, William le Bon, etc. (many of which survive in modern English), as well as in modern French names. It occurs contracted and unrecognized in lingot and other words.
- noun A suffix or termination of very diverse origin, and now usually without obvious significance, occurring in adjectives or nouns of native English origin, as in fickle, mickle, brickle, brittle, etc., cockle, prickle, knuckle, etc., shackle, etc., or of other origin, as in
battle , battle, bottle, buckle, mettle, etc. See the etymology of such words. - noun A suffix of frequentative, or originally frequentative, verbs, as babble, gabble, cackle, crackle, humble, mumble, ramble, scramble, scribble, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- determiner, article informal, humorous
the
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a chronic inflammatory collagen disease affecting connective tissue (skin or joints)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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After reciting the various modes of applying labor to the improvement of land, he says: "La valeur c'est incorporée, confondue dans le sol, et c'est pourquoi on poura très bien dire par métonymie: _le sol vaut_." -- (p. 363.)
The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 Various
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When the royal assent (says de Lolme) is given to a public bill, the clerk says, _le Roy le veut_.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 365, April 11, 1829 Various
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It was not till later that we learned the climax -- not till _le petit belge avec le bras cassé, le petit balayeur_, came hurrying to our end of the room and sat down with us.
The Enormous Room 1928
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The little Machine-Fixer (_le petit bonhomme avec le bras cassé_ as he styled himself, referring to his little paralysed left arm) was so perfectly different that I must let you see him next.
The Enormous Room 1928
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Il y a peut-être, me disais-je, aux sources de ce malaise, un très ancien malentendu, à la suite duquel le théâtre ne fut jamais exactement ce qu'il est dans l'instinct de la foule, à savoir: _le temple du Rêve_.
Pélléas and Mélisande Maurice Maeterlinck 1905
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If a man wishes to go over to the enemy, then let him do it -- _le remède sera pire que le mal_ -- but to be for ever dallying with the idea of treachery and adopting the pose without carrying it out in reality -- this I cannot regard as prudent policy.
Im Weltkriege. English Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria Czernin von und zu Chudenitz 1902
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A crowd assembles; flags fly; a band plays the Belgian National Anthem; hawkers go about selling photographs of _le départ pour le Congo_; and a steam-tug, decorated with flags, and with a band of music playing, accompanies the liner some distance down the Scheldt.
Peeps At Many Lands: Belgium Am��d��e Forestier 1887
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Page 56. 1. le bon Dieu: do not translate _le bon_.
Le Petit Chose (part 1) Histoire d'un Enfant Alphonse Daudet 1868
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Again, if we read in the time of Edward II. that “John Peverel held Hametethy of Roger le Jeu,” we may be quite certain that _le Jeu_ does not mean “the Jew,” and that in the time of Edward II. no John Peverel held land of a Jew.
Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities 1861
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Instead of _vieux_, old, Joinville uses _veil_ or _veel_ (p. 132 C, _le veil le fil au veil_, _i. e._ _le vieux fils du vieux_); but in the nom. sing., _viex_, which is the Latin
Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities 1861
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