Contextualizebeta

lye

noun
/laɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English leye, lye, from Old English lēah, lēag (“lye”), from Proto-West Germanic *laugu, from Proto-Germanic *laugō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Loge, Looie (“lye”), Dutch loog (“lye”), German Low German Loge, Loje, Loog (“lye”), German Lauge (“lye”). Compare typologically Ancient Greek ῥύμμα (rhúmma) < ῥύπτω (rhúptō, “to cleanse, to wash”).

  1. derived from *lewh₃-✻ — “to wash”
  2. inherited from *laugō✻
  3. inherited from *laugu✻
  4. inherited from lēah
  5. inherited from leye

Definitions

  1. An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes).

  2. Potassium or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda).

    • She had not left the lye in too long so that the hair would fall out in clumps later.

  3. To treat with lye.

  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. Obsolete spelling of lie.

      • Now negligent of sports I lye, And now as other Fawkners use, I spring a mistresse, sweare, write, sigh and weepe: And the game kill'd, or lost, goe talk, and sleepe.
      • But when his foe lyes proſtrate on the plain, He ſheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane; And, pleas'd with bloudleſs honours of the day, Walks over, and diſdains th' inglorious Prey,[…]

    2. A short side line, connected with the main line

      A short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding.

      • Brakevan lye. [same page in the main text] There is also an inclined lye for brakevans at each end of the yard.

    3. A suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England (OS grid…

      A suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SO9284).

    4. A diminutive of the female given name Lyanna.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for lye. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA