league

▪ I. league, n.¹
    (liːg)
    Forms: 4–5 leghe, 4–6 lege, leuge, (4 lewge, 5 lewke, leuke, leeke), 5–6 leege, 6 legge, le(a)que, Sc. lig, 6–7 leag(e, 6– league.
    [Late ME. leuge, lege, leghe, etc., ad. late L. leuga, leuca (= late Gr. λεύγη, λεύκη), according to Hesychius and Jordanes a Gaulish word; hence OF. liue, liwe (mod.F. lieue), Pr. lega, legua, Cat. llegua, Sp. legua, Pg. legoa, It. lega.]
    a. An itinerary measure of distance, varying in different countries, but usually estimated roughly at about 3 miles; app. never in regular use in England, but often occurring in poetical or rhetorical statements of distance. marine league: a unit of distance = 3 nautical miles or 3041 fathoms.
    Although the league appears never to have been an English measure, leuca occurs somewhat frequently in Anglo-Latin law-books (Bracton, Fleta, etc.); it is disputed whether in these works it means one mile or two.

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 245 Þanne þey come to giders in þe feeldes Cathalmytes, þat conteyneþ an hondred leges [v.rr. leuges, leghes, 1432–50 lewkes] in lengþe and seventy in brede. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xv. xxii. (1495) 497 The walles of Babylone were acountyd for two lewges and an halfe. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 28 Þis ile es cccl. leeges aboute. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. i. (1481) i vij, After the maner of lombardye they be callyd myles, and in fraunce leukes, and in englond they be callyd myles also. 1483 ― Gold. Leg. 223/2 Mount Joye..is but half a leeke fro seynt James. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. lxxxv. 63 An Hundreth Legis..wherof euery Lege conteyneth .iii. Englysshe myles. 1502 Arnolde Chron. 66, xvi. furlong make a frensh leuge [printed lenge]. 1528 Lyndesay Dreme 642–4 The quantytie of the erth Circuleir Is fyftie thousand liggis..Deuidyng, aye, ane lig in mylis two. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxvii. 275 A stronge castell with in a .iii. legges of Burdeux. 1555 Eden Decades 1 Such as are expert sea men affyrme that euery league conteyneth foure myles. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 57 The Gretians [measure] by furlonges: the Spaniardes, and French men by leques. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. ii. vi. (1636) 382 The French league containeth two of our miles, the Spanish league three, and the common league of Germany foure, and the great league of Germany containeth five of our miles. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 145 They hurried vs a-boord a Barke Bore vs some Leagues to Sea. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 42 At Touraine, in France..there is a plain of about nine leagues long, and as many broad. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. liii. note, I never yet saw the picture..which came a league within my conception. 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 268 A league at sea..contains 3000 geometrical paces, or 3 English miles. 1843 Borrow Bible in Spain 136 Before us, at the distance of about a league and a half, rose the mighty frontier chain. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 15 The Spanish league is somewhat less than three miles and a half English. 1855 Tennyson Charge Light Brigade i, Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 25 Can I..sharpen ear to recognize Sound o'er league and league of silence?

    b. Comb.: league-wide adj. (poet.); league-long a., that extends the length of a league.

1843 J. R. Lowell Prometheus in Poems (1844) 83 The vast Sarmatian plain, league-wide. 1848 ― Columbus in Poems 2nd Ser. 11 Some league-wide river. 1883 Tennyson Charge Heavy Brigade Prol. 27 The league-long rampart-fire. 1883 Swinburne Les Casquettes xxiv, Forth she fared..For a league-long raid on the bounding brine. 1951 W. de la Mare Winged Chariot 56 Life's league-wide cornfields. 1957 R. Campbell Coll. Poems II. 254 Across a league-wide valley, white with sprays.

▪ II. league, n.²
    (liːg)
    Forms: 5 ligg, (? 5–) 6 leage, Sc. lig, 6 lege, liage, leag(ge, Sc. leig, lyge, lyig, 6–7 ligue, leaug(e, 6– league.
    [The form ligue, lig, is a. F. ligue, ad. It. liga, var. of lega, vbl. n. f. legare to bind:—L. ligāre. The form le(a)ge is perh. ad. It. lega.]
    1. a. A military, political, or commercial covenant or compact made between parties for their mutual protection and assistance against a common enemy, the prosecution or safeguarding of joint interests, and the like; a body of states or persons associated in such a covenant, a confederacy.

1452 in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 387, I..binds and obliss me, that I shall make na bond, na ligg..quhilk sall be contrar till his heines. 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. Hen. VII, Wks. (1876) 269 Leages and confyderyes he hadde with all crysten prynces. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. vii. 63 And this same lyge with our posteritie Sall euir remane in faith and vnite. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 13 The cytiezins of Aden had..made a leage with the Portugales. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. 132 This League or band being maid betweine the king and the hail natione. Ibid. v. 262 To make a Leagge or band w{supt} the Scotis or Peichtis against the Jnglismen. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 95 France hath flaw'd the League, and hath attach'd Our Merchants goods at Burdeux. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 121 Leagues are commonly made for mutuall defence. 1678 C. Hatton in H. Corr. (1878) 160 Y⊇ league offensive and defensive w{supt}{suph} y⊇ States Genll. 1783 Watson Philip III (1839) 17 Count Hohenloe was in Germany, employed in exciting the princes of the league of Munster to take the field against the Spaniards. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xvii. 451 The danger of a Protestant league compelled the Catholic powers to bury their rivalries.

    b. spec. in Hist. the League, (a) a league formed in 1576 under the direction of the Guises, to prevent the accession of Henry IV to the French throne; (b) = League of Nations. Holy League, a name given to several leagues in European history, as that formed by Pope Julius II against the French in 1511 and the Nuremberg League of 1538. Hanseatic, Latin League: see these adjs. Solemn League and Covenant: see covenant n. 9 a.
    By writers on ancient history the word is used in the designation of certain confederations of states, as the ætolian league, the Amphictyonic league, etc.

1589 I. L. (title) The Birth, Purpose, and mortal Wound of the Romish holie League. 1684 Dryden (title) The history of the League. Written in French by M. Maimbourg. Translated into English. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Leaguer, one concern'd in the League or Confederacy in France, in the time of King Henry III and IV. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The League, by way of eminence, denotes that famous one on foot in France, from the year 1576 to 1593. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, iv. Wks. 1813 V. 401 The king of England was declared protector of this league, which they dignified by the name of holy, because the pope was at the head of it. 1838 Thirlwall Greece I. 375 The Amphictyonic league or council. Ibid. III. 39 The Delphians..were..induced..to renounce their union with the Phocian league. 1861 Dyer Mod. Europe II. 194 An alliance against the Sultan, called the Holy League, was..concluded between himself [Pius V], Philip II., and the Venetians. Ibid. 450 The Catholic States of the Circles of Suabia and Bavaria agreed to enter into an alliance which afterwards obtained the name of the Holy League. 1917 H. N. Brailsford League of Nations 324 Without the firm resolve to make the League itself an article, and the first article, in the settlement, our need of security will drive us inevitably to other expedients. The settlement, unless the idea of the League penetrates it and inspires it, must draw its principle from the older statecraft of anarchy and force. 1919 J. M. O'Sullivan in Studies Dec. 577 Had not the basal idea of the League been thus early repudiated. 1936 A. Huxley Let. 2 Mar. (1969) 401 The..atmosphere wd be cleared and a chance given for the reconstruction of the League on a more satisfactory basis. 1944 J. S. Huxley On Living in Revolution iii. 32 The failure of the League merely served to underline the urgent need for some international political organization. 1950 Theimer & Campbell Encycl. World Politics 260/1 The Assembly did not meet again until April 1946, when it decided to dissolve the League, already replaced by the United Nations. 1952 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. X. 212/2 When the United States Congress repudiated President Wilson's proposals and failed to join the League, its hope of real success was small. 1971 W. H. McNeill in A. Bullock 20th Cent. 47/1 Should a government defy the League..all the League members would be obliged to..check aggression by imposing sanctions.

    c. In recent times often adopted in the names of certain associations of individuals or of societies for some common object. Anti-Corn-Law League: a political association formed in 1838 to procure the abolition of the existing Corn Laws. Football League: see quot. 1899². Land, Primrose, Reform League: see these ns. Similarly, Baseball league, Cricket League. Also ellipt. League.

1846 Wellington in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxiv. 51 There were no persons in that assembly capable of sustaining in debate the existing Corn Law against Cobden and the League. 1879 Chicago Tribune 17 May 7/5 A misunderstanding has arisen as to the condition of the Cleveland Club, and its inability to play, which will end in an appeal to the League. 1883 Catholic Dict. (1896) 554 The Catholic Total Abstinence League of the Cross was founded in 1873. 1883 Whitaker's Almanack 227/2 National Sunday League,..National Temperance League. 1889 Ibid. 564/1 A Football League has been formed, including twelve of the leading North and Midland clubs... These clubs play a sort of American tournament for the League Championship. 1891 Amer. Cricket Annual 10 The organisation of the Metropolitan District Cricket League was certainly a move in the right direction. 1892 Athletic News Cricket Ann. 51 Lancashire Cricket League... This organisation..has done for cricket what the League has done for football. 1892 J. A. Leighton (title) Leighton's North-Western Rugby Football League card. Season 1892–93. 1894 Athletic News 5 Nov. 1/2 The position of Notts in the League is occasioning very considerable anxiety. 1899 Ld. Aldenham Colloq. Currency (1900) Pref. 9 They even proposed to hear me, as president of the Bimetallic League. 1899 G. O. Smith in Football (Badm. Libr.) 170 It was at this stage Mr. MacGregor..brought forward his idea of a football union between the leading clubs of the day... The following twelve clubs were invited to form a union between themselves... Thus was the League formed. Ibid. 171 The League was formed chiefly for the purpose of insuring a series of first-class games [etc.]. 1910 Encycl. Brit. IX. 622/1 In 1888 the Football League, a combination of professional clubs of the north and midlands of England, was formed. 1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow ii. 13 All the players in all the teams of the League. 1930 J. Williamson Amer. Hotel 293 The Broadway Central has been the scene of several noteworthy episodes. It was there that the National League was organized in 1876. 1935 Encycl. Sports 187/2 A number of [cricket] clubs form themselves into a league; each plays all the others in turn, and the championship of the league falls to the one which wins the most matches. Ibid. 292/2 The first league, the Football League, was then formed [in 1888]. 1951 Football Record (Melbourne) 8 Sept. 12 Approximately 300 visiting schoolboys were recently entertained by the League at the Melbourne ground. 1957 Encycl. Brit. III. 159/2 The professional [baseball] clubs usually compete as members of leagues. 1960 B. Liddell My Soccer Story vii. 48 For years the Football Association and the Football League have been trying to help players to prepare for the new life ahead when they finish with football. 1969 Listener 20 Mar. 384/2, I cannot believe he would still maintain that Rugby League backs ‘usually run across instead of straight’. 1973 News of the World Football Ann. 1973–74 78 (heading) Football League—Division One. Ibid. 100 Re-elected to Division [One] when League was extended after the war. 1974 Daily Record (Glasgow) 15 Apr. 27/2 Yesterday Stein admitted, ‘The League is almost won. We know that!’ 1974 Guardian 1 Aug. 22/8 It is not possible to be wrapped up in all the competitions and win them as the League exists at present.

    † d. A document in which the terms of a league are set down. Obs.

1642 C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 43 The Treasury, where the ancient Leagues of the Realme..and divers other ancient Records doe lye. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 89 The Transcripts of Leagues and Treaties.

    e. transf. and fig. Cf. big league s.v. big a. B. 2.

1935 J. T. Farrell Judgment Day viii. 185 You better go back and play in a grammar-school league. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 389 You want to keep a girl who was born to travel in a big league. 1961 Listener 12 Oct. 547/1 At the Riga brewery..I saw a notice board with the photographs of the twelve workers who were topping the production league. 1965 Listener 23 Sept. 446/1 The English-speaking peoples are excellent at breakfasts, but after that they would scarcely claim to stand high in the gastronomic league. 1966 J. Chamier Cannonball xii. 115 She's out of your league, me lad, and you'll take a most almighty toss. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. B. 4/3 In such a league Paul Mellon has impeccable collections. 1971 Austral. Seacraft June 17/2 To join the big league [in speedboating]. 1971 Where Oct. 293/2 Neill has a lightness of touch, and a flair for comedy that were in the Wodehouse league. 1972 New Society 27 Jan. 187/1 Rory Gallagher, a minor league superstar blues guitarist. 1972 ‘M. Yorke’ Silent Witness v. 121 She was bored because he obviously wasn't in her league. 1973 Times 22 Feb. 5/3 The latest incident is not in the same league as the apparently endless series of espionage scandals in and around Bonn in 1968 and 1969.

    2. gen. A covenant, compact, alliance. Now rare.

1509 Hawes Conv. Swearers 42 How that ye breke the lege of sothfastnesse. 1534 More On the Passion Wks. 1325/2 Thys is the bloud of the leage, that oure Lorde hathe made with you vppon al these wordes. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1220/1 Contrarie to the leagues and quietnesse of both the realmes of England and Scotland. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 281 Ile kisse thy hand, In signe of League and amity with thee. c 1600 ― Sonn. xlvii, Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is tooke. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. x. 236 Though there be a league and simpathie betwixt golde and quicke-silver. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xxii. 8 My sonne hath made a league with the sonne of Iesse. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. viii. (1651) 25 The Appetite..which by an admirable league of Nature, and by mediation of the spirit commands the organ by which it moves. 1644 Milton Judgm. Bucer Wks. 1738 I. 284 Those duties..wherby the league of wedloc is chiefly preserved. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. vii. (1650) 10 Our first ligue of love, you know, was contracted among the Muses in Oxford. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 339 Linkt in happie nuptial League. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxiv. 359 By thus uniting philosophy with religion, he dissolved the league which genius had formed with scepticism. 1833 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Product. Mod. Art, What associating league to the imagination can there be between the seers, or the seers not, of a presential miracle?

    3. Phr. † a. to enter league: to make a covenant or alliance; to interleague. Obs.

1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 49, I studyed..to enter league with such a one as might direct my steps. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) C 2, I maruaile Medor, what my father meanes, To enter league with Countie Sacrepant? 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 149 They did choose to enter league, when they could have made an end of him.

    b. in league with: having a compact with, allied with.

1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Fœderati,..confederate: in league, or alliance with. 1611 Bible Job v. 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field. 1611 [see league v.1 1]. 1808 Scott Marm. ii. vii, Jealousy..With sordid avarice in league. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. ii, For anybody on the road might be a robber or in league with robbers. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxi, Look you, villains, this fellow is in league with you.

    4. Basket-making. (See quots.)

1903 T. Okey in R. M. Jacot Useful Cane Work i. p. ix, When a single continuous cane is used as a combined bottom stick and stake it is termed a ‘League’. 1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 482/2 When the ‘bottom-stick’ and ‘stake’ are formed of one and the same continuous rod, it is termed a ‘league’.

    5. attrib. and Comb., as league breaker, league-fellow, † league-friend, league-union; (sense 1 c) league championship, league club, league cricket, league football (hence league footballer), league-game, league match, league player, league star, league system, league-team; league-hut (see quot.); league table, a list of the members of a league in ranking order; also transf., a systematic comparison of performance in any field of competitive activity.

1561 Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 104 Beeyng receyued by the hande of a *leaguebreaker preste. 1671 Milton Samson 1184 When they took thee As a League-breaker.

1901 Dundee Advertiser 4 Jan. 6 That [sc. Guiseley] Club winning the *League championship. 1969 Official Baseball Rules 16 The League is a group of clubs whose teams play each other in a pre-arranged schedule under these rules for the league championship. 1972 G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer iv. 58 The previous season Chelsea had won the League Championship of the First Division.

1938 C. E. Sutcliffe et al. Story of Football League 14 A meeting of the *League clubs was held on 8th February, 1909. 1973 News of the World Football Ann. 1973–74 163 (heading) Oldest League Clubs.

1961 F. C. Avis Sportsman's Gloss. 125/2 *League Cricket, that organized, outside the county championship, etc., in competitive league groups, e.g. the Central Lancashire League.

1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 175 The Gothians, and other *league fellowes of the People of Rome.

1910 T. Charnley Let. 13 Jan. in C. E. Sutcliffe et al. Story of Football League (1938) 15 Reports are continually being received that the many unfair and unscrupulous tactics indulged in by some of the players engaged in *League football are allowed to pass unpunished by the referees. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xvi. 350 The mid-century schoolchild's sporting enthusiasms are more taken up with league football, [etc.].

1951 Football Record (Melbourne) 8 Sept. 18 Congratulations to Ron Clegg, who won the..award for the best *League footballer of 1951.

1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices ii. (1558) 83 Warres were made eyther for defence of *leagfrendes or for empire.

1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 251/2 If the American universities would send delegates to see our *league games.

1888 ‘P. Daryl’ Irel. Disease 137 These are *League-huts, a temporary shelter which the [Land] League offers to ejected tenants.

1909 A. Bennett Matador (1912) 30 Knype had yet five *League matches to play. 1973 Irish Times 2 Mar. 3/2 Cup ties are very different to league matches.

1886 H. Chadwick Art of Pitching & Fielding 132 The following are the best fielding averages of the Eastern *League players. 1938 C. E. Sutcliffe et al. Story of Football League 12 The forces outside the League were..ready to take away League players without paying anything for them. 1967 Australian 26 Apr. 12 Injuries to many *League stars.

1899 G. O. Smith in Football (Badm. Libr.) 171 In accordance with the *League system a certain number of clubs play home and home matches together. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 425/2 An elaboration of this competition is the ‘League system’ of the Association game. This..has not been popular with Rugby players. Still it is prevalent in many districts... In the League system a certain number of clubs form a league to play one another twice each season; two points are counted for a win, and one for a draw. The club which at the end of the season comes out with most points wins the competition. 1912 Football Chart (G. F. Stirling, Liverpool), Note position of Club each week in *League Table and mark the ups or downs. 1930 Daily Express 6 Oct. 16 (heading) Saturday's League results and tables. 1959 Times 19 Mar. 12/2 He also recited with telling effect a ‘league table’ of unemployment percentages in western countries, ending with Great Britain as the lowest of all. 1967 Coulthard & Smith in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 205 Large and expensive personnel departments, which maintain extensive records, card indexes, files, annual appraisal systems, charts, league tables, and so on. 1970 F. C. Avis Soccer Dict. (ed. 3) 57 League table, the statement of teams in relation to each other during the season, [etc.]. 1972 Human World May 3 In 1971 they were half way up the ‘league table’ of wages instead of near the top. 1972 Times 11 July 2/7 A league table of tar and nicotine in most brands of cigarettes seems certain to be produced. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon ix. 131 Already a healthy element of competition was springing up between the big league climbers of the Alpine countries... This was a little like a League Table, which we all examined with care as we decided what to do next.

1899 G. O. Smith in Football (Badm. Libr.) 182 Four *League teams.

1639 H. Glapthorne Argalus & P. iv. 39 Palmes (That do with amorous mixture twine their boughes Into a *league-union).

▪ III. league, v.¹
    (liːg)
    [f. league n.² Cf. F. liguer, It. legare.]
    1. trans. To form or join into a league; to band together with; to confederate.

1611 Cotgr., Ligué, leagued, in league with. 1633 P. Fletcher Pisc. Eclogs, etc. Upon Picture Achmet, Wakeful ambition leagu'd with hastie pride. 1638 Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. (1711) 166 To league a people is to make them know their strength & power. 1648 Hamilton Papers (Camden) 219 France, Jermin, and the Parliament of England, are leagued to obstruct his designe. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 868 Out of my sight, thou Serpent, that name best Befits thee with him leagu'd. 1791 Cowper Iliad xii. 21 Then Neptune, with Apollo leagued, devised Its ruin. 1814 Wordsw. White Doe ii. 32 Two Earls fast leagued in discontent. 1874 Green Short Hist. v. §6. 259 Hotspur..leagued himself with the Scots.

    † 2. To bind, connect, join. Obs.

c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 51 They began to build upon those small islands..and in tract of time they conjoined and leagued them together by bridges. 1660 tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. iii. i. 304 The tyes that ligue us to God.

    3. intr. To join in or form a league or alliance; to band together. Also to league against in indirect pass.

1638 Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. (1711) 166 All the world seeth, that to league is imperiously to command their king and sovereign to cut short his pinions. 1698 Crowne Caligula v. Dram. Wks. 1874 IV. 416, I never knew they leagu'd or lov'd till now. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 37 The king..began to see himself leagued against..both by protestant and papist. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab viii. 185 Where kings first leagued against the rights of men. 1822 ― Hellas 537 The tiger leagues not with the stag at bay Against the hunter. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iii. iii. (1864) I. 402 Theodoric..left..the Bishop of Rome..to league with the rebellious subjects of Byzantium against the Eastern Emperor.

    Hence leagued ppl. a., confederate; ˈleaguing vbl. n.

1799 Campbell Pleas. Hope i. 351 When leagu'd Oppression pour'd to Northern wars Her whisker'd pandoors and her fierce hussars. 1807 Crabbe Library 136 Where first the proud, the great, In leagued assembly keep their cumbrous state. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam ii. xiv, A tower whose marbled walls the leagued storms withstand! 1821 J. Baillie Metr. Leg., Wallace xxvii, These are the leagued for Scotland's native right. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxvi, They can sustain no harm from leaguing for this purpose. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 499 The leagued states. 1869 Daily News 8 Mar., His actual leaguing with the Scots against the independence of England.

▪ IV. † league, v.² Obs. rare.
    [a. F. légue-r, ad. L. lēgā-re.]
    trans. To bequeath.

1623 tr. Favine's Theat. Hon. v. i. 40 By his testament he leagued Normandie to Robert his eldest Sonne.

Oxford English Dictionary