▪ I. led, ppl. a.
(lɛd)
[Pa. pple. of lead v.1]
1. In various nonce-uses (see the vb.).
| 1570 Levins Manip. 48/38 Ledde, ductus. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iv. (1629) 425, I would suffer this fault..to be blotted out of my minde, by your former led life. 1754 Richardson Grandison III. xxii. 203 Is not in his own power. He suffers himself to be a led man. |
| absol. 1895 Daily News 11 July 5/1 The fusion is adopted by the leaders and half repudiated by the led. |
2. led horse, a spare horse, led by an attendant or groom; also a sumpter- or pack-horse. Also transf. in led tub, etc., (Mining): see quot. 1851.
| 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 21 Twenty led Horses, with great silver Chains instead of Bridles. 1718 Freethinker No. 109 ¶4 With an Hundred Led-Horses in his Train. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson's Funeral 35 The carriage was drawn by six led horses. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii, Smuggler's Leap 19 The led-horse laden with five tubs or more. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 35 A led tub or corf means a spare one, for the barrowman to leave empty with the hewer, whilst the full one is being put to the flat or crane. 1887 P. M'Neill Blawearie 84 Will Hood had a ‘led’ lamp; it soon was kindled. |
3. That follows slavishly or as a sycophant. led-captain, a hanger-on, dependant, parasite. So also led-† eater, † led friend, led poet.
| 1672 Wycherley Love in Wood i. i, Every wit has his cully, as every squire his led captain. 1679 Shadwell True Widow i. Wks. 1720 III. 123 He is, in short, a Led⁓eater..and Dry Jester to gaming and jockey-Lords. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 208 ¶2 There is hardly a rich Man in the World, who has not such a led Friend. 1745 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 68 Churchill, whose led-captain he [Sir John Cope] was. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair l, A led captain and trencher-man of my Lord Steyne. 1866 Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 7/4 In the last century opera singers used to keep led-captains in their pay, who..swore their employers were incomparable, and defied those who dared denial to the duello. 1881 Saintsbury Dryden 53 Elkanah Settle was one of Rochester's innumerable led-poets. |
4. led farm: a farm held and controlled by a non-resident farmer. Sc.
| 1815 Scott Guy M. l, The Deuke's no that fond o' led farms. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 58 The Back o' Beyont was a solitary place,..and was situated on a led farm. |
| transf. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. ii. iv. 92 He transferred the Markgrafdom to Brandenburg, probably as more central in his wide lands; Salzwedel is henceforth the led Markgrafdom or Marck. |
Add: 5. As the second element in instrumental Combs.: see the first element. a. In literary writing from the late 16th cent., as star-led (star n.1 15 c), pixy-led a., fancy-led (fancy n. and a. B. 1 c), etc. b. More commonly from the mid 20th cent. in Pol. and esp. in Econ. contexts, as communist-led (communist n. 3 b), export-led (*export n. 3 a), etc.
| 1596 W. Smith Chloris xiii. sig. B2, A lust-led Satyre hauing hir in chace. 1852 M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna ii. ii. 136 Be neither saint nor sophist-led, but be a man! 1968 Punch 29 May 761/1 She insists that the boom must be ‘export-led’ and not ‘consumer-led’. 1984 Dance Theatre Jrnl. May 17/4 We..publish a features-led, rather than reviews-led arts page. 1990 J. Park Brit. Cinema vi. 111 Hammer was too much a market-led company to encourage fresh approaches to the monstrous. |
▪ II. led, ledare
obs. forms of lid, leader.