Also 5 lede, leedyn, 6 leed. [f. LEAD sb.1]
† 1. trans. a. To make (something) of lead. b. To make dull and heavy as lead. Obs.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IX. 175. Or pipis hit to condit me may lede.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xc. (1869), 109. With this ax I dulle and lede [F. j’assomme … et aplomme] the clerkes at cherche.
2. To cover with lead. Also with over.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 292/2. Leedyn wythe leed, plumbo.
1479. Bury Wills (Camden), 53. A new rooff to the churche of Euston and ledyd.
1530. Palsgr., 604/2. I leede, I cover a thing, or a rofe of a house, with leede.
1552. Inventories (Surtees), 10. And the quier all leadid.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 293. She leaded and paved the Friday Market Cross in Stamford.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 40. Sent away naked (saving in her Keel, which was Leaded).
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. ii. 316. The Carpenters … caulked all the seams … and leaded them over.
1826. Scott, Woodst., xvii. We gained the roof … which was in part leaded.
1862. [see LEADED ppl. a.].
3. To arm, load or weight with lead.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, viii. (Arb.), 16. A croked staf wel leded on thende for to playe at the balle. Ibid. (1483), Gold. Leg., 191 b/2. They bete this holy man with … Scourges leded.
1651–7. T. Barker, Art of Angling (1820), 25. Lead the shank of the hook.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 12. The line should always be leaded according to the rapidity, or quietness of the river you angle in.
4. a. To fix (glass of a window) with leaden cames. Also with in, up.
1530. Palsgr., 604/2. I wyll leed no mo wyndowes, it is to costely.
a. 1626. Bacon, New Atl. (1900), 26. A carved Window of Glasse, leaded with Gold and blew.
1885. F. Miller, Glass Painting, vii. 69. Where very small pieces of glass have to be leaded in the finest or ‘string’ lead can be used.
1886. Willis & Clark, Cambridge, I. 443. The glass [of the windows] was new leaded.
1899. Mackail, Life Morris, II. 42. The glass was burned and leaded up.
b. To set or fasten in firmly with molten lead.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., 274. The next day … Course XXIX. was set, and its circular chain leaded in also.
† 5. To line (pottery) with lead or lead-glaze; to glaze. Also with over. Obs.
1558. Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secretes, 73. Boyle them together in an earthen panne or potte leaded.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 30. Great stone pottes that bee leaded within.
1611. Bible, Ecclus. xxxviii. 30. He [the potter] applieth himselfe to lead it ouer.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 123. After the vessels are painted, they lead them, with that sort of Lead-Ore they cal Smithum, which is the smallest Ore of all, beaten into dust, finely sifted and strewed upon them.
6. Printing. To separate the lines of type by interposing leads (see LEAD sb.1 8).
1841. Savage, Dict. Printing, 179. When a work is double leaded.
1852. W. Wilks, Hist. Half Century, Pref. p. iii. He did hope, in his inexperience, to have found room for all he had to say within twenty-three sheets of bourgeois leaded.
1875. Southward, Dict. Typogr., Lead out—a direction given in order that leads may be put between lines of matter.
7. intr. Naut. To use the lead; to take soundings.
1858. C. Kirton, in Merc. Marine Mag., V. 246. He would … sooner haul off the land out of soundings, than run … close in and lead.
8. passive and intr. Of a gun-barrel: To become foul with a coating of lead.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. xi. § 6. 47. If either gun has its barrels leaded … the scratch-brush must be used till the lead is removed.
1881. Greener, Gun, 130. The barrel also leads very quickly.
9. trans. To smooth the inside of (a gun-barrel) with a lap of lead (see LAP sb.4 b).
1881. Greener, Gun, 146. When once rifled, the barrel cannot—as in the Henry, Ratchet, and other riflings—be leaded or otherwise regulated, except with the rifling machine.
