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Loosestrife

The name of several species of plants of the genus Lysimachia, having small star-shaped flowers, usually of a yellow color. Any species of the genus Lythrum, having purple, or, in some species, crimson flowers.

Loot

To plunder; to carry off as plunder or a prize lawfully obtained by war.

looted

wrongfully emptied or stripped of anything of value; as, the robbers left the looted train.

Lop

Hanging down; as, lop ears; -- used also in compound adjectives; as, lopeared; lopsided.

Lope

A leap; a long step.

Loper

One who, or that which, lopes; esp., a horse that lopes.

Lophine

A nitrogenous organic base obtained by the oxidation of amarine, and regarded as a derivative of benzoic aldehyde. It is obtained in long white crystalline tufts, -- whence its name.

Lophiomys

A very singular rodent (Lophiomys Imhausi) of Northeastern Africa. It is the only known representative of a special family (Lophiomyid/), remarkable for the structure of the skull. It has handlike feet, and the hair is peculiar in structure and arrangement.

Lophobranch

Of or pertaining to the Lophobranchii. One of the Lophobranchii.

Lophobranchii

An order of teleostean fishes, having the gills arranged in tufts on the branchial arches, as the Hippocampus and pipefishes.

Lophophore

A disk which surrounds the mouth and bears the tentacles of the Bryozoa. See Phylactolemata.

Lophosteon

The central keel-bearing part of the sternum in birds.

Loppard

A tree, the top of which has been lopped off.

Lopper

To turn sour and coagulate from too long standing, as milk.

Lopping

A cutting off, as of branches; that which is cut off; leavings.

Loppy

Somewhat lop; inclined to lop.

Lopseed

A perennial herb (Phryma Leptostachya), having slender seedlike fruits.

Lopsided

Leaning to one side because of some defect of structure; as, a lopsided ship.

lopsided victory

A victory in a contest in which one side defeats the other overwhelmingly; -- in sports, meaning one side scores much more than the other; in war, meaning one side has many more casualties than the other.

Loquacious

Given to continual talking; talkative; garrulous.

Loquacity

The habit or practice of talking continually or excessively; inclination to talk too much; talkativeness; garrulity.

Loquat

The fruit of the Japanese medlar (Photinia Japonica). It is as large as a small plum, but grows in clusters, and contains four or five large seeds. Also, the tree itself.

Loral

Of or pertaining to the lores.

Loral Loreal

Of or pertaining to the lore; -- said of certain feathers of birds, scales of reptiles, etc.

Loran

A system of electronic navigation in which a vessel or aircraft determines its latitude and longitude by measuring the time differences between low frequency radio transmissions from two stationary transmitters (slaves) and a stationary master transmitter. Contrary to the name, Loran is a medium range system, usually effective for no more than a few hundred miles from shore. The first commercial system was called Loran A; the latest (and final) development is Loran C.

Lorate

Having the form of a thong or strap; ligulate.

Lorcha

A kind of light vessel used on the coast of China, having the hull built on a European model, and the rigging like that of a Chinese junk.

Lord

To play the lord; to domineer; to rule with arbitrary or despotic sway; -- sometimes with over; and sometimes with it in the manner of a transitive verb; as, rich students lording it over their classmates.

Lording

The son of a lord; a person of noble lineage.

lordless

having no lord or master; as, the /ronin/ of Japan were lordless samurai.

Lordolatry

Worship of, or reverence for, a lord as such.

Lordosis

A curvature of the spine forwards, usually in the lumbar region. Any abnormal curvature of the bones.

Lords and Ladies

The European wake-robin (Arum maculatum), -- those with purplish spadix the lords, and those with pale spadix the ladies.

Lordship

The state or condition of being a lord; hence (with his or your), a title applied to a lord (except an archbishop or duke, who is called Grace) or a judge (in Great Britain), etc.

Lore

That which is or may be learned or known; the knowledge gained from tradition, books, or experience; often, the whole body of knowledge possessed by a people or class of people, or pertaining to a particular subject; as, the lore of the Egyptians; priestly lore; legal lore; folklore.

Lorel

A good for nothing fellow; a vagabond.

Loren

strong p. p. of Lose.

Lorette

In France, a name for a woman who is supported by her lovers, and devotes herself to idleness, show, and pleasure; -- so called from the church of Notre Dame de Lorette, in Paris, near which many of them resided.

Lorettine

One of an order of nuns founded in 1812 at Loretto, in Kentucky. The members of the order (called also Sisters of Loretto, or Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross) devote themselves to the cause of education and the care of destitute orphans, their labors being chiefly confined to the western United States. A Loreto nun.

Lorgnette

An opera glass elaborate double eyeglasses.

Lorica

A cuirass, originally of leather, afterward of plates of metal or horn sewed on linen or the like.

Loricata

A suborder of edentates, covered with bony plates, including the armadillos. The crocodilia.

Loricate

An animal covered with bony scales, as crocodiles among reptiles, and the pangolins among mammals.

Lorication

The act of loricating; the protecting substance put on; a covering of scales or plates.

Lorikeet

Any one numerous species of small brush-tongued parrots or lories, found mostly in Australia, New Guinea and the adjacent islands, with some forms in the East Indies. They are arboreal in their habits and feed largely upon the honey of flowers. They belong to Trichoglossus, Loriculus, and several allied genera.

Loriner Lorimer

A maker of bits, spurs, and metal mounting for bridles and saddles; hence, a saddler.

Loriot

The golden oriole of Europe. See Oriole.

Loris

Any one of several species of small lemurs of the genus Stenops. They have long, slender limbs and large eyes, and are arboreal in their habits. The slender loris (Stenops gracilis), of Ceylon, in one of the best known species.

Lorn

Lost; undone; ruined.

Lorry Lorrie

A small cart or wagon moving on rails, as those used on the tramways in mines to carry coal or rubbish; also, a barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway stations.

Lory

Any one of many species of small parrots of the family Trichoglossid/, generally having the tongue papillose at the tip, and the mandibles straighter and less toothed than in common parrots. They are found in the East Indies, Australia, New Guinea, and the adjacent islands. They feed mostly on soft fruits and on the honey of flowers.

Los

Praise. See Loos.

Lose

To suffer loss, disadvantage, or defeat; to be worse off, esp. as the result of any kind of contest.

Losenger

A flatterer; a deceiver; a cozener.

Loser

One who loses; as, the loser pays for a round of beer.

Losing

Causing or likely to cause a loss; as, a losing game or business; a losing strategy.

losings

something lost, especially money lost at gambling. Inverse of winnings.

Loss

The act of losing; failure; destruction; privation; as, the loss of property; loss of money by gaming; loss of health or reputation.

loss leader

an article of merchandise sold at a loss in order to draw customers.

losses

something lost, especially money lost at gambling. Inverse of winnings.

lossy compression

The compression of binary data into a form which, when it is re-expanded, has most, but not all, of the original information. It is used primarily for compression of images and sounds, and is designed to provide a high degree of compression at the cost of a slight loss of data. It is expemplified by the JPEG compression standard. Images compressed by a lossy compression algorithm are re-expanded into an image close, but not identical to the original image; the difference between the original and the reconstructed image may be imperceptible to normal viewing by the eye.

Lost

Parted with unwillingly or unintentionally; not to be found; missing; as, a lost book or sheep.

Lot

To allot; to sort; to portion.

Lote

To lurk; to lie hid.

loth

strongly opposed.

Lothario

A gay seducer of women; a libertine.

Lothringen

Lorraine, a French region rich in iron-ore deposits.

Lotion

A washing, especially of the skin for the purpose of rendering it fair.

Lotong

An East Indian monkey (Semnopithecus femoralis).

Lotophagi

A people visited by Ulysses in his wanderings. They subsisted on the lotus. See Lotus (b), and Lotus-eater.

Lotos-eater Lotus-eater

One who ate the fruit or leaf of the lotus, and, as a consequence, gave himself up to indolence and daydreams; one of the Lotophagi.

Lottery

A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance; esp., a gaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, and the rest of the tickets are blanks. An affair of chance.

Lotto

A game of chance, played with cards or tickets, on which are inscribed numbers, and any contrivance (as a wheel containing numbered balls) for determining a set of numbers by chance. The player holding a card having on it the set of numbers drawn from the wheel takes the stakes after a certain percentage of them has been deducted for the dealer. In some systems, lesser prizes are awarded for having some but not all of the numbers selected, such as four or five numbers in a six-number drawing. A variety of lotto is called keno. In another variety, the player chooses the numbers for the card or ticket s/he holds. There may be from three to seven different numbers on a card or ticket. In a modern computerized lotto system conducted by state authorities, the player chooses numbers, or allows the computer to choose numbers at random, which are then printed on a ticket that the player holds until the winning number is selected.

Lotus

A name of several kinds of water lilies; as Nelumbium speciosum, used in religious ceremonies, anciently in Egypt, and to this day in Asia; Nelumbium luteum, the American lotus; and Nymph/a Lotus and Nymph/a c/rulea, the respectively white-flowered and blue-flowered lotus of modern Egypt, which, with Nelumbium speciosum, are figured on its ancient monuments. The lotus of the lotuseaters, probably a tree found in Northern Africa, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain (Zizyphus Lotus), the fruit of which is mildly sweet. It was fabled by the ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native country, or lose all desire to return to it. The lote, or nettle tree. See Lote. A genus (Lotus) of leguminous plants much resembling clover.

louche

of questionable taste, decency, or morality; not reputable; as, a louche nightclub; a louche painting.

Louchettes

Goggles intended to rectify strabismus by permitting vision only directly in front.

Loud

With loudness; loudly.

loud-mouth

a person who causes trouble by speaking indiscretely.

Loud-mouthed

Having a loud voice; talking or sounding noisily; noisily impudent or offensive.

Loud-voiced

Having a loud voice; speaking with a loud voice; noisy; clamorous.

Loudness

The quality or state of being loud.

loudspeaker

A device which converts electrical signals into sounds loud enough to be heard at a distance, usually outdoors; it is used to amplify or transmit over a distance speech from a person, who is typically speaking into a microphone. Sometimes it is used to play recorded speech or music.

Louis d'or

Formerly, a gold coin of France nominally worth twenty shillings sterling, but of varying value; -- first struck in 1640.

Louis quatorze

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the art or style of the times of Louis XIV. of France; as, Louis quatorze architecture.

Louk

An accomplice; a /pal./

Lounge

An idle gait or stroll; the state of reclining indolently; a place of lounging.

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