Loading earlier words…
Lubricant

That which lubricates; specifically, a substance, as oil, grease, graphite, etc., used for reducing the friction of the working parts of machinery.

Lubricate

To make smooth or slippery; as, mucilaginous and saponaceous remedies lubricate the parts to which they are applied.

lubricated

smeared with oil or grease to reduce friction.

Lubrication

The act of lubricating; the act of making slippery.

Lucchese

A native or inhabitant of Lucca, in Tuscany; in the plural, the people of Lucca.

Luce

A pike when full grown.

Lucency

The quality of being lucent.

Lucent

Shining; bright; resplendent.

Lucernaria

A genus of acalephs, having a bell-shaped body with eight groups of short tentacles around the margin. It attaches itself by a sucker at the base of the pedicel.

Lucernarian

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

Lucernarida

A division of acalephs, including Lucernaria and allied genera; -- called also Calycozoa. A more extensive group of acalephs, including both the true Lucernarida and the Discophora.

Lucid

Shining; bright; resplendent; as, the lucid orbs of heaven.

Lucidity

The quality or state of being lucid.

Lucidness

The quality of being lucid; lucidity.

Luciferase

an enzyme which catalyzes the oxidation of luciferin, thereby producing bioluminescence.

Luciferian

One of the followers of Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, in the fourth century, who separated from the orthodox churches because they would not go as far as he did in opposing the Arians.

Luciferin

any of several substances found in luminescent organisms (such as the firefly, Photinus pyralis) which, when oxidized, produces an almost heatless light. It was first isolated from fireflies, and is the source of the firefly luminescence. See also firefly luciferin

Luciferous

Giving light; affording light or means of discovery.

Luciform

Having, in some respects, the nature of light; resembling light.

Lucimeter

an instrument for measuring the intensity of light; a photometer.

Lucite

A brand name for a transparent plastic based on methyl methacrylate esters; the term is often used generically to refer to any similar transparent plastic. It is sold in various forms, including rigid sheets which may be used as a substitute for glass in windows.

Luck

That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune; as, good, bad, ill, or hard luck. Luck is often used by itself to mean good luck; as, luck is better than skill; a stroke of luck.

Luckily

In a lucky manner; by good fortune; fortunately; -- used in a good sense; as, they luckily escaped injury.

Luckiness

The state or quality of being lucky; as, the luckiness of a man or of an event.

Luckless

Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.

Lucknow

A city in India, the site of the Indian Mutiny (1857) when the British were beseiged.

Lucky

Favored by luck; fortunate; meeting with good success or good fortune; -- said of persons; as, a lucky adventurer.

Lucre

Gain in money or goods; profit; riches; -- often in an ill sense.

Luctation

Effort to overcome in contest; struggle; endeavor.

Lucubrate

To elaborate, perfect, or compose, by night study or by laborious endeavor.

Lucubration

The act of lucubrating, or studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation.

Lucubrator

One who studies by night; also, one who produces lucubrations.

Lucubratory

Composed by candlelight, or by night; of or pertaining to night studies; laborious or painstaking.

Lucule

A spot or fleck on the sun brighter than the surrounding surface.

Lucullite

A variety of black limestone, often polished for ornamental purposes.

Lucuma

An American genus of sapotaceous trees bearing sweet and edible fruits.

Luddite

One of a number of riotous persons in England, who for six years (1811-17) tried to prevent the use of labor-saving machinery by breaking it, burning factories, etc.; -- so called from Ned Lud, a half-witted man who some years previously had broken stocking frames.

Ludicrous

Adapted to excite laughter, without scorn or contempt; sportive.

Ludlamite

A mineral occurring in small, green, transparent, monoclinic crystals. It is a hydrous phosphate of iron.

Ludlow group

A subdivision of the British Upper Silurian lying below the Old Red Sandstone; -- so named from the Ludlow, in Western England. See the Chart of Geology.

Ludwigite

A borate of iron and magnesia, occurring in fibrous masses of a blackish green color.

Lues

Disease, especially of a contagious kind.

Luff

To turn the head of a vessel toward the wind; to sail nearer the wind; to turn the tiller so as to make the vessel sail nearer the wind.

Lug

A rod or pole.

Luganda

the language of the Buganda; spoken in Uganda.

luge

a racing sled for one or two people; it is raced down a chute of packed snow or ice, and the occupant(s) lie down on it with feet in the direction of motion.

luger

someone who races the luge.

Luggage

That which is lugged; anything cumbrous and heavy to be carried; especially, a traveler's trunks, baggage, etc., or their contents.

Lugger

An Indian falcon (Falco jugger), similar to the European lanner and the American prairie falcon.

Lugmark

A mark cut into the ear of an animal to identify it; an earmark.

Lugsail

A square sail bent upon a yard that hangs obliquely to the mast and is raised or lowered with the sail.

Lugubrious

Mournful; indicating sorrow, often ridiculously or feignedly; doleful; woful; pitiable; as, a whining tone and a lugubrious look.

Lugworm

A large marine annelid (Arenicola marina) having a row of tufted gills along each side of the back. It is found burrowing in sandy beaches, both in America and Europe, and is used for bait by European fishermen. Called also lobworm, and baitworm.

Luke

Moderately warm; not hot; tepid; lukewarm.

Lukewarm

Moderately warm; neither cold nor hot; tepid.

Lull

The power or quality of soothing; that which soothes; a lullaby.

lullaby

A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets.

Luller

One who, or that which, lulls.

Lumachella Lumachel

A grayish brown limestone, containing fossil shells, which reflect a beautiful play of colors. It is also called fire marble, from its fiery reflections.

Lumbago

A rheumatic pain in the loins and the small of the back.

Lumbal Lumbar

Of, pertaining to, or near, the loins; as, the lumbar arteries.

Lumber

To move heavily, as if burdened.

Lumberer

One employed in lumbering, cutting, and getting logs from the forest for lumber; a lumberman.

Lumbering

The business of cutting or getting timber or logs from the forest for lumber.

lumberjack

a person who works at lumbering; a lumberman.

Lumberman

One who is engaged in lumbering as a business or employment.

Lumbosacral

Of or pertaining to the loins and sacrum; as, the lumbosacral nerve, a branch of one of the lumber nerves which passes over the sacrum.

Lumbric

An earthworm, or a worm resembling an earthworm.

Lumbrical

Resembling a worm; as, the lumbrical muscles of the hands of the hands and feet. A lumbrical muscle.

Lumbricoid

Like an earthworm; belonging to the genus Lumbricus, or family Lumbricid/.

Lumbricus

A genus of annelids, belonging to the Oligoch/ta, and including the common earthworms. See Earthworm.

Lumen

A unit of illumination, being the amount of illumination of a unit area of spherical surface, due to a light of unit intensity placed at the center of the sphere. A unit of light flux, being the flux through one square meter of surface the illumination of which is uniform and of unit brightness.

Luminescence

Any emission of light not ascribable directly to incandescence, and therefore occurring at low temperatures, as in phosphorescence and fluorescence or other luminous radiation resulting from vital processes, chemical action, friction, solution, or the influence of light or of ultraviolet or cathode rays, etc.

Luminescent

Shining with a light due to any of the various causes which produce luminescence.

Luminiferous

Producing light; yielding light; transmitting light; as, the luminiferous ether.

Luminosity

The quality or state of being luminous; luminousness.

luminousness

the quality of being luminous; emitting or reflecting light.

Lummox

A fat, ungainly, stupid person; an awkward bungler.

Lump

To throw into a mass; to unite in a body or sum without distinction of particulars.

Lump together

To combine (various items) and treat them as a unit. See lump, v. i.

Lumpectomy

the removal of a cyst or tumor from the breast by surgery. This is one method of treating breast tumors when in an early stage, and is preferred for cosmetic reasons, when medically feasible, to radical mastectomy, the removal of the entire breast along with nearby muscles.

Lumpen

same as lumpenproletariat.

Lumpenproletariat

the lowest level of the proletariat, comprising unskilled workers, the unemployed, and the dispossessed, alienated from the class with with they would normally identify and having little or no class solidarity; -- an important element in Marxist theory.

Lumpfish

A large, thick, clumsy, marine fish (Cyclopterus lumpus) of Europe and America. The color is usually translucent sea green, sometimes purplish. It has a dorsal row of spiny tubercles, and three rows on each side, but has no scales. The ventral fins unite and form a ventral sucker for adhesion to stones and seaweeds. Called also lumpsucker, cock-paddle, sea owl.

Lumpish

Like a lump; inert; gross; heavy; dull; spiritless.

Loading more words…