Pl. leaves. Forms: α. sing. 1 léaf, 2–4 lef, 3 (6) leif, (3 lief, lieif, 4 lyeave), 3–6 lefe, (3 leve), 4–5 leyf, leff, (4 lyf), 4–6 leef, (4, 6 leof), 6 leaffe, leefe, (leave, laif), 6–7 leafe, 3– leaf. β. pl. 1 léaf, Northumb. léofo, hléofa, léofa, 3–4 levis, 3–6 leves, (4 leeves), 4 lewes, Sc. leivis, lewis, 5 lewys, 4–5 levys, (5 leevys), 6 Sc. levis, 5 le(e)fes, 6 leaffes, 7–8 leafs, 8 leafes, 6– leaves. [OE. léaf str. neut. (pl. léaf) = OFris. lâf, OS. lôf, lôƀ (Du. loof), OHG. loup masc. and neut. (MHG. loup, loub-, mod.G. laub neut.), ON. lauf neut. (Sw. löf, Da. löv), Goth. lauf-s (pl. laubôs) masc.:—OTeut. *lauƀo-. By some scholars regarded as cogn. w. Lith. lùpti, OSl. lupiti to peel, strip off.]
I. The organ of the plant, etc.
1. An expanded organ of a plant, produced laterally from a stem or branch, or springing from its root; one of the parts of a plant that collectively constitute its foliage.
It is usually green, and in its most complete form consists of a blade, footstalk and stipules; in popular lang. the word leaf denotes the blade alone. Some mod. botanists use the word in an extended sense, including all those structures which are regarded as ‘modified leaves,’ such as stamens, carpels, floral envelopes, bracts, etc.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, xxxvi. 2. Forðon swe swe heʓ hreðlice adruʓiað & swe swe leaf wyrta hreðe fallað.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxi. 19. And ʓesæh ðone fic-beom enne … & næniht infand in ðær … buta leofo anum.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 177. To-ȝanes wintre þenne alle leues fallen.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 7/204. A treo with bowes brode and lere, Ake þare nas opon noþur lief ne rinde.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 804. Þai cled þam … wit leues brad bath o figer.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 67. Quhen … lewis on the branchis spredis.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 239. He sholde rube his gomes with lewys of trenne.
1485. Caxton, Chas. Gt., 210. Eche man took his owne, and cutte of the bowes & leues.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 162. They differ also in the color of the leaue.
1640. Howell, Dodona’s Gr., To Prince 12. They soon will cast their leafs.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 480. So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aerie.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., ix. 205. Like leaves one generation drops, and another springs up.
1830. Tennyson, Arab. Nts., viii. A sudden splendour from behind Flush’d all the leaves with rich gold-green.
1889. Geddes & Thomson, Evol. of Sex, vi. § 1. In most phanerogams … male and female organs occur on different leaves (stamens and carpels) of each flower.
fig. 1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 138. On limitoures and listres lesynges I ymped, Tyl thei bere leues of low speche lordes to plese.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 41. Ne by þe braunches ne the leuys of confession.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. ii. 353. This is the state of Man; to day he puts forth The tender Leaues of hopes, to morrow Blossomes.
1860. Reade, Cloister & H., lv. (1896), 163. Yet our love hath lost no leaf, thank God.
1882. Jean L. Watson, Life R. S. Candlish, xiv. 148. How the leaves fall when the autumn of one’s friendship has begun.
Phrase. 1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), I. xv. 11. I tremble as doth a leef vpon a tree. [See also ASPEN a. 1.]
b. with qualifying adjs., as compound, fleshy, lyrate, etc. q.v.; also cold, hollow leaf (see quots.).
1831. G. Don, Gard. Dict., I. xvii. Hollow-leaf, form of a cowl, concave above.
1897. Willis, Flower. Pl., I. 192. Most of them [Alpine plants] have more or less inrolled leaves, which perhaps … act as a protection against the cold…. Such leaves are termed by Jungner cold-leaves.
c. Walking leaf: see WALKING ppl. a.
2. Popularly used for: A petal; esp. in rose-leaf.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Vnguis, Vnguis rosæ … the thicke white parte of a rose leafe nexte the stalke.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. i. 92. This Fellow … Vpbraided me about the Rose I weare, Saying, the sanguine colour of the Leaues Did represent my Masters blushing cheekes.
c. 1600. Acc. Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 80. Take the leaues of Blew violetes.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot. (1765), 2. The Corolla, Foliation, vulgarly called the Leaves of the Flower.
1820. Shelley, Sensit. Plant, III. vii. The rose leaves, like flakes of crimson snow, Paved the turf.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, V. 189. Pure as lines of green that streak the white Of the first snowdrop’s inner leaves.
3. collect. The foliage of a plant or tree; leafage, leaves. Chiefly in phr. fall of the leaf. In (full) leaf: covered with leaves or foliage.
1537. in Lett. Roy. & Illustr. Ladies (1846), II. 363. I am sick at the fall of the leaf and at the spring of the year.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 48. Spring tyme, Somer, faule of the leafe, and winter.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Gardening (Arb.), 556. The White-Thorne in Leafe.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 362. The year began in March with the coming of the leaf.
1789. G. White, Selborne, xvi. (1853), 68. When the leaf is out.
1863. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia, 19. All in full leaf and beauty.
fig. 1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 23. I haue liu’d long enough, my way of life Is falne into the Seare, the yellow Leafe.
1811. W. R. Spencer, Poems, 44. Ere yet the green leaf of her days was come.
† b. Used for ‘season,’ ‘year,’ in the description of wine. Obs. [Cf. F. vin de deux feuilles.]
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., III. 71. Wine of nine or ten leaues (as they terme it) which is so many yeares olde.
1715. Lond. Gaz., No. 5385/9. Hermitage Claret, deep, bright, strong … and of the true Leaf. Ibid. (1720), No. 5832/4.
4. spec. The leaves of a plant cultivated for commercial purposes: a. of the tobacco-plant. In the leaf, in leaves, i.e., unstemmed and uncut.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Tobacco Battered, 781. Impose so deep a Taxe On all these Ball, Leafe, Cane, and Pudding-packs.
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 49. Of Tobacco in the leafe three ounces.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 4), II. 866. Virginia leaf costs in bond 31/2d. per lb. … Ditto strips, 51/2d.
1898. Tit-Bits, 7 May, 105/3. Tobacco … in the Navy … is usually served out in the leaf.
b. of the tea-plant (see quot.).
1883. Times, 2 April, 4/4. A factory in which the ‘leaf,’ as the green leaves gathered from the tea bushes are technically termed, is manufactured into tea.
5. A disease incident to sheep and lambs. (Cf. leaf-sickness in 17.) ? Obs.
1726. Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Leaf, a Distemper incident to Lambs of 10 or 14 Days old.
1749. W. Ellis, Syst. Improv. Sheep, 320. Some call it [the disease] wood-evil, and others the leaf. Some suppose they get it by feeding upon wood, or some leaf upon the ground.
6. A representation of a leaf; an ornament in the form of a leaf; esp. in Arch. (see quot. 1842–59).
1459. in Paston Lett., I. 478. j. close bedde of palle grene and whyte, with levys of golde.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., xxix. 70. The Chapter had this in particular, that its stalks and flexures of the leaves were made in the form of Ramms horns.
1707. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. iii. (ed. 22), 274. His [an Earl’s] Coronet hath the Pearls raised upon Points, and Leaves low between.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Leaves, in architecture, are an ornament of the Corinthian capital, and thence borrowed into the Composite.
1842–59. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Leaves, ornaments imitated from natural leaves, whereof the ancients used two sorts, natural and imaginary.
† b. Geom. A leaf-shaped figure. (Cf. FOLIATE a. 2 b, and quot. 1796 there.) Obs.
1715. A. de Moivre, in Phil. Trans., XXIX. 330. Whereas the Foliate is exactly quadrable, the whole Leaf thereof being but one third of the Square of AB.
II. Similative uses.
7. One of the folds of a folded sheet of paper, parchment, etc.; esp. one of a number of folds (each containing two pages) that compose a book or manuscript, a folio; hence, the matter printed or written thereon.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. i. (1890), 31. Man scof þara boca leaf, þe of Hibernia coman.
c. 1205. Lay., 46. Laȝamon leide þeos boc & þa leaf wende.
a. 1225. St. Marher. Ich … habbe ired ant araht moni mislich leaf.
1340. Ayenb., Pref. And ine huyche half of þe lyeaue be tuaye lettres of þe abece. Þet is to wytene .A. and .b. .A. betocneþ þe uerste half of þe leave .b. þe oþerhalf.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s Prol., 69. Who so list it nat yheere, Turne ouer the leef, and chese another tale.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, Prol. 2. [I] toke a penne & ynke, and wrote a leef or tweyne.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 15. Read the xvj. lyne the fyrste syde of the xij. leif.
1595. Spenser, Sonn., i. 1. Happy, ye leaves! when as those lilly hands … Shall handle you.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. 202. It will be fit to have a Book in Folio, that a sheet of Paper makes but two Leafs.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. vii. 131. I … began the other Page in the same manner, and so turned over the Leaf.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 389. None of these [newspapers] … exceeded in size a single small leaf.
fig. 1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 117. [They] Are not within the Leafe of pitty writ.
b. Phrases. To take a leaf out of (a person’s) book: see BOOK sb. 15. † To turn down a leaf: to cease for a time. † To turn (over) the (next) leaf (obs.), to turn over a new leaf, etc.: to adopt a different (now always a better) line of conduct.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., I. 21/2. He must turne the leafe, and take out a new lesson, by changing his former trade of liuing into better.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxvii. (1887), 148. The state is now altered,… the preferment that way hath turned a new leafe.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1631), 92. But as soone as he was exalted to honor, he turned ouer a new leafe, and began … furiously to afflict … the … faithfull seruants of Christ.
1601. Imp. Consid. Sec. Priests (1675), 90. Let us all turn over the leaf, and take another course.
a. 1659. Osborn, Characters, etc. Wks. (1673), 647. It is time to give over, at least, to turn down a Leaf.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. ii. (Rtldg.), 12. I took a leaf out of their book.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xlii. (1889), 411. I will turn over a new leaf, and write to you.
† 8. A lobe (of the lungs). (Cf. F. fueille de poulmon Cotgr.) Obs. rare–1.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiii. (1495), 130. Thenne to shape ye voys thayre is receyued in ye leues of ye lounges.
9. The layer of fat round the kidneys of a pig; also applied to the inside fat of other animals. Now only dial.
14[?]. Anc. Cookery, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 425. Take the lefe of porke sethen … and grynde hit smalle.
1552. Huloet, Leaffe or fat of a swyne, vnctum.
1563. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), 1835, I. 207. Leaves of ij swyne iiijd.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Gt. Eater Kent, 8. What say you to a leafe or flecke of a brawn new kild?
1697. Dampier, Voy., 106. I heard of a Monstrous Green Turtle…. The leaves of Fat afforded 8 Gallons of Oyl.
1753. Scots Mag., Jan., 48/2. The fore chine weighed 64, and the leaves 75 pounds.
1854. Thoreau, Walden, xvii. (1886), 304. A thick moist lobe, a word especially applicable to the liver and lungs and the leaves of fat.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Leeaf, or Leaf, the inside layer of fat in a pig or a goose. ‘Geease-leeaf.’
1886. in S. W. Linc. Gloss.
10. A very thin sheet of metal, esp. gold or silver. (See also Dutch, Florence leaf, GOLD LEAF, SILVER LEAF.)
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 580/3. Electum, a lefe of goolde.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 10. Vpon a Stith with a Mallet it [gold] is brought into most thin leafe or plate.
1580. Frampton, Monardes’ Dial. Iron, 166. Vessels of Copper, or of the leafe of Milan…. The leafe of Milan is made of Iron.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 344. Put it into several Leafs of the finest Gold.
a. 1800. Cowper, Flatting Mill, vi. He must beat it as thin and as fine As the leaf that infolds what an invalid swallows.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 1236. Gold and silver beaten into leaves, for gilding.
b. A thin sheet or layer of other material produced either by beating out or by splitting; a lamina (of horn, marble, wood, etc.). Lantern leaves (see LANTERN sb. 9).
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 571. The first who couered all the walls … with leaues of marble.
1640. in Entick, London, II. 175. Horns of lanthorn, the 1000 leaves.
1668. Phil. Trans., III. 783. Very many vasa lacrymalia of Glass, which by length of time were become laminated into divers leaves.
1772. Nugent, trans. Hist. Friar Gerund, IV. ix. 199. The modern buildings at Rome … appear to be all porphyry, marble … when, in reality, they have no more of these stones than a thin superficial leaf.
1850. Scoresby, Cheever’s Whaleman’s Adv., iii. (1859), 38. The bones, or rather, slabs of whalebone, radiate in leaves that lie edgewise to the mouth.
1880. Chambers’ Encycl. (U.S. ed.), s.v. Deals, When a deal is sawed into twelve or more thin planks, they are called ‘leaves.’
† 11. The sheet of leather into which the teeth of a wool-card were inserted. Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 92/1. The Leaf, the Leather to set the Teeth in. Pricking the Leaf, is making holes in the Leather, into which the teeth are put.
12. A hinged part or one of a series of parts connected at one side or end by a hinge; a flap. Now rare or obs. exc. spec. as in b, c, d, e.
1420. E. E. Wills (1882), 46. A beme þat y weye þer-with, and ij leuys.
c. 1524. Churchw. Acc. St. Maryhill, Lond. (Nichols, 1797), 118. A Spear with 2 leues.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 236. He … wrote them in a payre of tables of stone, whiche tables had two leaues or two bredes.
1572. Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.), II. 205. One mucke weyne wth leaves.
b. One of two or more parts of a door, gate or shutter turning upon hinges.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1327. Þe wyndowes wer y-mad of iaspre … þe leues were masalyne.
1382. Wyclif, Judg. xvi. 3. And thens rysynge he [Sampson] took both leeues of the ȝate.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., II. vii. (1588), 265. Puttyng backe the leafe of a window with his dagger.
1611. Bible, Ezek. xli. 24. And the doores had two leaues a piece, two turning leaues.
1723. Chambers, Le Clerc’s Treat. Archit., I. 102. Coach-Gates … are usually made with two Leaves or Folding-doors.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xli. Two … personages in black flung open each a leaf of the door as the carriage pulled up.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 106. The chanted prayer … Thrilled through the brazen leaves of the great door.
1887. Times, 25 Aug., 4/5. One leaf of each pair of gates weigh 900 tons.
c. A hinged flap at the side of a table to be raised when required for use. Hence applied gen. to any movable addition to the top of a table.
1558. Bury Wills (Camden), 151. One plaine table wth one leafe.
1577. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1835), I. 414. A table withe two leves vjs. viijd.
1665. Pepys, Diary, 28 May. Here I saw one pretty piece of household stuff:—as the company increaseth, to put a larger leaf upon an ovall table.
1797. Mar. Edgeworth, Early Lessons (1827), I. 50. I will hold up this part of the table which is called the leaf.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xli. He has finished the spare-leaf of the dining-table.
1883. J. T. Headley, in Harper’s Mag., Oct., 652/2. The table was cleared off, and the leaves taken out so as to allow it to be shut up in a circle, when Mrs. Washington presided.
d. The part of a draw-bridge or bascule-bridge that is raised upon a hinge.
1653. Boston Rec. (1877), II. 117. Liberty … to alter the drawe bridge, whereas it is made [to] rise in one Leafe, and … to make it to rise in two leaves.
1791. Selby Bridge Act, 34. The leaf or leaves of the said bridge.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 30 June, 5/2. The ponderous bascules or leaves of the [Tower] bridge were seen to rise steadily into the air.
e. A hinged sight on the barrel of a rifle.
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Leaf-sight.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 16 Sept., 3/1. Half the company with the leaf of the sight raised and half with it down.
1900. Daily News, 2 Feb. 7/1. All that is required is that the sighting leaf shall be changed.
13. One of the teeth of a pinion. (See also quot. 1805.)
1706. in Phillips (ed. Kersey).
1729. Desaguliers, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 195. An Iron Wheel,… to be carried round by a Pinion, u, of a few Leaves.
1805. Brewster, in Ferguson’s Lect., I. 82, note. When the small wheel is solid and oblong, and it’s teeth longer than their distance from the axis,… its teeth are named leaves.
1812–6. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 358. The tooth of the wheel acts upon the leaf of the pinion.
14. The brim of a hat. Chiefly Anglo-Irish.
1767. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual., IV. 210. Harry let down the lear of his hat, and drew it over his eyes to conceal his emotions.
1841. W. H. Ainsworth, Guy Fawkes, I. xi. 204. His hat was steeple-crowned, and somewhat broader in the leaf than was ordinarily worn.
1842. Lever, J. Hinton, xxi. 146. A hat … the leaf jagged and broken.
1893. P. W. Joyce, Short Hist. Irel., 118. The barread or hat was cone-shaped and without a leaf.
15. Weaving. Leaf of heddles (see quot. 1839). Twill of three, four, etc., leaves: twill woven upon three, four, etc., leaves of heddles; hence attrib., as eight-leaf twill.
1831. G. R. Porter, Silk Manuf., 238. All varieties of twilling depend upon the … working of the different leaves of heddles.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1230. The heddles being stretched between two shafts of wood, all the heddles connected by the same shafts are called a leaf. Ibid., 1231. The draught of the eight-leaf tweel differs in nothing … excepting in the number of leaves.
1888. J. Paton, in Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 464/2. Regular twills of from four to eight leaves are woven in the same manner.
III. attrib. and Comb.
16. a. Simple attrib., chiefly Bot. and Vegetable Phys., as leaf-axil, -blade, -disease, -lobe, -shadow, -shoot, -stalk, -vein.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 322. Flowers fascicled in the upper *leaf-axils. Ibid., 367. *Leaf-blade flat.
1869. Rep. Comm. U. S. Agric., 218. Mildew and other *leaf diseases.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 15. *Leaf-lobes longer.
1863. Longf., Wayside Inn, I. Falcon of Ser Federigo, 50. In the *leaf-shadows of the trellises.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., vii. 187. A pointed flexible *leaf-shoot of wild plantain.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants, Gloss. 799. *Leaf-stalk, the foot-stalk of a leaf.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 138. The petiole, or leafstalk.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, xvii. 193. Distinguishable by the deep red of the *leaf-veins.
b. objective, as leaf-eater, shedding; leaf-bearing, -eating, -forming, -shedding adjs.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 131. Leaves and *Leaf-bearing Axes.
1852. T. W. Harris, Insects Injur. Veget. (1862), 117. *Leaf-eaters. Ibid., 121. The tortoise-beetles … are *leaf-eating insects.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 63. *Leaf-forming plants.
1837. Wheelwright, trans. Aristophanes, I. 107. Smelling of bind-weed and *leaf-shedding poplar.
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta (1890), 316. The leaf-shedding season being now at its height.
c. instrumental, as leaf-entangled, -fringed, -laden, -latticed, -roofed, -sheltered, -strewn, -strown.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. i. 258. The emerald light of *leaf-entangled beams.
1820. Keats, Ode Grecian Urn, 5. What *leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape…?
1842. Faber, Styrian Lake, etc. 122. *Leaf-laden waters.
1863. Longf., Wayside Inn, I. Birds Killingworth, 122. The dim, *leaf-latticed windows of the grove.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xx. (1848), 238. Old orchards’ *leaf-roofed aisles.
1769. G. White, Selborne (1789), 69. To yonder bench *leaf-sheltered let us stray.
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta, 384. The *leaf-strewn path.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 955. These now the lonesome muse … lead into their *leaf-strown walks.
d. parasynthetic and similative, as leaf-bladed, -legged, -pointed, -shaped adjs.; also leaf-like adj.
1883. Daily News, 21 Sept., 5/7. A small *leaf-bladed sheathed dagger.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. cii. Of her consuming cheek the autumnal *leaf-like red.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot. (1862), 168. The stem … leaf-like (foliaceus).
1865. Lubbock, Preh. Times, 17. The swords of the Bronze age … are always more or less leaf-like in shape.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 111. Rubus fruticosus … Sepals ascending often *leaf-pointed.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. III. i. 8. The ancient bronze *leaf-shaped sword.
17. Special comb.: leaf-bearing a., having a leaf-like appendage; applied spec. to worms of the family Phyllodocidæ, which have gills in the form of leaves; † leaf-beaten a., beaten to a thin plate or foil; leaf-beetle, a beetle of the family Chrysomelidæ (see quot.); leaf-birth [after childbirth], a bringing forth of leaves; leaf-brass, brass foil; leaf-bridge, a bridge constructed with a leaf or leaves (sense 12 d); leaf-bud, a bud from which leaves are produced (opposed to flower-bud); leaf-bug U.S., a heteropterous insect of the family Tingitidæ (Cent. Dict.); leaf-bundle, the bundle of fibers running from the stem into the leaf of a plant; leaf-butterfly, one of the genus Kallima; leaf-canopy (see quot.); leaf-climber (see quot. 1880); so leaf-climbing a.; leaf-crumpler (see quot.); leaf-cup, † (a) ? a cup shaped like a leaf; (b) the plant Polymnia Uvedalia (Treas. Bot., 1866); leaf-cutting, a leaf used as a cutting in the propagation of certain plants; leaf-cycle Bot. (see quot.); leaf-door, a flap- or folding-door (in quots. transf. and fig.); leaf-eared, a corrupt form of lave-eared (see LAVE a.); leaf-fall (poet.), the fall of the leaf, autumn; leaf-fat, the fat round a pig’s kidneys; leaf-feeder, an insect that feeds upon plant-leaves; leaf-finch U.S., the common bullfinch, Pyrrhula vulgaris (Cent. Dict.); leaf-flea, an insect of the family Psyllidæ that lives on plants (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1888); leaf-folder, a moth whose larvæ fold leaves together to form a protective covering; leaf-footed a., having leaf-like feet; leaf-frog, a frog of the genus Phyllomedusa (Webster, 1897); leaf-gap Veg. Phys., a division in the fiber of a plant, caused by the protrusion of a leaf-bud; † leaf-gate, a gate with folding leaves or flaps; leaf-gilding vbl. sb., gilding with leaf-gold; leaf-green a., of the color of green leaves; also quasi-sb.; sb. = CHLOROPHYLL; leaf-hopper (see quot.); leaf-insect, a name for insects of the family Phasmidæ, esp. the genus Phyllium, in which the wings and sometimes the legs resemble leaves in shape and color; leaf-joy nonce-wd., leaf-lard (see quots.); leaf-lichen, a lichen of the genus Parmelia or N.O. Parmeliaceæ; leaf-louse, one of the aphides that infest the leaves of plants; a plant-louse; leaf-metal, metal beaten out to a thin leaf or foil; leaf-miner, a small caterpillar of a tineid moth that eats its way between the cuticles of leaves; so leaf-mining caterpillar; leaf-mould, mould having a large proportion of decayed leaves mixed with it; leaf-netting (see quot.); leaf-nosed a., having a leaf-like appendage on the snout; spec. applied to the phyllostomoid and rhinolophoid bats; leaf-opposed a. Bot., having opposite leaves; leaf-plant, a plant cultivated for its foliage; in quot. attrib.; leaf-red = ERYTHROPHYLL (Syd. Soc. Lex.); leaf-roller, the caterpillar of certain (tortricid) moths, which rolls up the leaves of plants that it infests; so leaf-rolling adj.; leaf-rosette Veg. Phys., a cluster of leaves resembling a rosette; leaf-rust, a mold that attacks trees, producing the appearance of rusty spots on the leaves; leaf-scale, a scale on a plant-stem that develops into a leaf; leaf-scar, the cicatrix left on the bark by the separation of the leaf-stalk of a fallen leaf; leaf-sheath, an expansion at the axil of a leaf in some plants, which embraces the stem and petiole; also, a covering to the leaf-bearing shoots of some grasses, e.g., the Equisetaceæ; † leaf-sickness (see quot. and cf. sense 5 above); leaf-sight (see 12 e); leaf-silver, silver leaf or foil; hence leaf-silvering vbl. sb., the process of covering with leaf-silver (Cent. Dict.); leaf-soil = leaf-mould; leaf-spine (see quot. 1882); leaf-table, a table with a leaf or flap; leaf-tailed a., having the tail shaped like a leaf, applied to geckos of the genus Phyllurus (Cent. Dict.); leaf-teeth (see quot.); leaf-tendril, a leaf, the midrib of which grows beyond the blade in the form of a tendril; leaf-thorn = leaf-spine (Syd. Soc. Lex.); † leaf-tin, tin-foil; leaf-tobacco (see quot. 1851); leaf-trace Veg. Phys. (see quot. 1882); leaf-turner, † (a) jocular, a reader of a book; (b) a device for turning over the leaves of a book (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); leaf-valve, ‘a valve of a pumping-engine hinged or pivoted on one side, a flap-valve’ (Knight); leaf-wasp, ‘a saw-fly’ (Webster, 1897); leaf-work, ornamental work consisting of leaf-forms; † leaf-worm, a caterpillar that devours leaves.
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 232. The family of *Leaf-bearing Worms, the Phyllodocidæ, contains very beautiful Worms.
1660. Hexham, Dutch Dict., Klater-goudt,… *leafe-beaten gold.
1852. T. W. Harris, Insects Injur. Veget. (1862), 117. Beetles … which, as they derive their nourishment … from leaves alone, may be called *leaf-beetles.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Eclog., III. 56. Now each meadow is teeming, in *leafbirth every tree.
1708. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 90. The Rosin, while warm, would attract *Leaf-Brass.
1847. S. C. Brees, Gloss. Civ. Engin., *Leaf-Bridge, or Hoist-Bridge.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., Jan. (1706), 4. Learn … to … distinguish the Bearing and Fruit-buds from the *Leaf-buds.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 74. The usual, or normal, situation of leaf-buds is in the axil of leaves.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 256. All … are, according to Wigand, ‘true *leaf-bundles, since they traverse only one internode and then run into the leaf-organs.’
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 232. *Leaf-butterfly of India (Kallima inachis).
1885. C. F. Holder, Marvels Anim. Life, 147. Java, the home of the beautiful leaf-butterfly.
1889. Land Agents’ Rec., 9 Feb., 126. A forest is said to form a *‘leaf-canopy’ when the crowns of the trees touch each other.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., iii. § 3 (ed. 6), 52. *Leaf-Climbers are those in which support is gained by the action, not of the stem itself, but of the leaves it bears.
1880. C. & F. Darwin, Movem. Pl., 139. A *leaf-climbing plant.
1884–5. Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888), II. 444. The *leaf-crumpler, Phycis indiginella, of North America…. The caterpillars draw together and crumple the leaves on which they feed.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5409/3. A *Leaf Cup without a Cover.
1890. G. M. Gould, New Med. Dict., Bear’s-foot, leaf cup. A popular remedy for enlargement of the spleen, or the ‘ague-cake’ of malarious regions.
1882. Garden, 4 Feb., 74/1. I have been successful with *leaf cuttings of … Bertolonias.
1877. A. W. Bennett, trans. Thomé’s Bot., 87. If a spiral is drawn round the stem connecting the points of attachment of the [alternate or scattered] leaves…. The course of the spiral from any one leaf to the next leaf which stands exactly vertically above or beneath it is therefore termed the *leaf-cycle.
1600. J. Lane, Tom Tel-troth, 113. The two *leafe-dores of quondam honestie, Which on foure vertues Cardinall were turned.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 108. Nature hath ordained & scituated a certain value, leaf-doore, or floud-gate, at the beginning of this Colon.
1840. Browning, Sordello, III. 95. *Leaf-fall and grass-spring for the year.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Sausages, *Leaf-Fat out of the Hogs-belly.
1853. Zoologist, XI. 4025. The seed-feeders … not betraying themselves by the discoloured blotches as the *leaf-feeders do.
1869. Rep. Comm. U.S. Agric., 217. Illinois: The *leaf folder, thrips, borer, and curculio are occasionally found in vineyards.
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 633. The Phyllopoda, or *Leaf-footed Entomostraca.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 243. Narrow reticulated tracheides at the edges bordering the *leaf-gap.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 236. The torne Membranes … do somtimes hang downe on either hand in the sides by the cleft like vnto values … or *leafe-gates.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 613. *Leaf gilding … is done by giving … a coat of gum water or fine size, applying the gold leaf ere the surfaces be hard dry. Ibid. (1853), (ed. 4), II. 867. Chlorophyle (*leaf-green).
1891. Daily News, 19 Sept., 2/1. The hat … is in leaf green felt. Ibid. (1899), 27 Feb., 6/6. Laburnum-yellows, leaf-greens.
1852. T. W. Harris, Insects Injur. Veget. (1862), 220. Some of the insects … are … called … frog-hoppers, and to others [Tettigoniadæ] may be applied the name of *leaf-hoppers, because they live mostly on the leaves of plants.
1861. Tennent, Nat. Hist. Ceylon, 408. *Leaf-insects.
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 486. Leaf insect, Phyllium scythë.
1638. Rawley, trans. Bacon’s Life & Death (1650), 34. Hope is as a *Leafe-Ioy [orig. tanquam gaudium foliatum]; Which may be beaten out, to a great Extention, like Gold.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Leaf-lard, lard from the flaky animal fat of the hog.
1879. Rossiter, Dict. Sci. Terms, *Leaf lichens, Parmeliaceæ.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), III. 212. The animal which some have called the *Leaf Louse, is of the size of a flea, and of a bright green, or bluish-green colour.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 155. *Leaf Metal (except of Gold) the packet to contain 250 leaves.
1830. J. Rennie, Insect Archit., xii. 239. Most of the solitary *leaf-miners either cannot or will not construct a new mine, if ejected by an experimenter from the old.
1883. Wood, in Gd. Words, Dec., 763/2. Leaf-miners—tiny caterpillars which pass their lives between the inner and outer layer of leaves.
1830. J. Rennie, Insect Archit., xii. 233. *Leaf-mining Caterpillars.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl., 53. A compost of *leaf-mould, loam, and sand, well mixed together.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 360. *Leaf Netting, also known as Puff Netting, and worked so as to raise some of the loops of a row above the others.
1879. Wright, Anim. Life, 64. The Phyllostomidæ. This family contains the simple *Leaf-nosed Bats.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 5. Ranunculus … Batrachium … Peduncles usually *leaf-opposed.
1896. Howells, Impressions & Exp., 214. The *leaf-plant beds before the hotel.
1830. J. Rennie, Insect Archit., viii. 158. The caterpillars which are familiarly termed *leaf-rollers, are perfect hermits. Ibid., 163. The leaf-rolling caterpillars.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 169. The *leaf-rosettes of Crassulaceæ.
1865. Cooke, Rust, Smut, etc. 111. A rare species in Britain is the oak-*leaf rust (Uredo Quercus).
1776–96. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 490. Leaves floating, long, grass-like, blunt, from *leaf-scales.
1835. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (1848), I. 239. We do not … usually find any buds in the axils of the *leaf-scars. Ibid. (1830), Nat. Syst. Bot., p. xlvii. *Leafsheaths entire … Leafsheaths slit.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 370. [Equisetum Telmateia and E. arvense] After they have formed several foliar girdles and their apex is covered by a firm envelope of leaf-sheaths, they break through the base of the parent leaf-sheaths.
1614. Markham, Cheap. Husb., III. xxvi. (1668), 93. The staggers, or *leaf-sickness … is ingendered in sheep by surfeiting on Oak-leaves … or such like … it is cold corrupt blood, or flegm, gathered together about the brain.
1614. Camden, Rem., 204. Eleauen ounces two pence ferling [in the lb. of coin] ought to be of so pure siluer, as is called *leafe siluer.
1712. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 87. Salvers, Spoons,… &c. cover’d with Leaf Silver and Gold.
1872. Jrnl. Horticulture, 21 March, 262/1. *Leaf soil decays with age, and finally becomes vegetable soil.
1894. Robinson, Cottage Gardening, IV. 12/2.
1877. Bennett, trans. Thomé’s Bot., 109. *Leaf-spines as in the holly.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 215. Leaf-spines are leaves which have developed into long, conical, pointed, woody bodies.
1649. Bury Wills (Camden), 220. A *leafe table, a forme, a great kettle.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 374. The *leaf-teeth of Drosera…. The leaf of species of Drosera … has at its edge and on its entire upper surface numerous filiform teeth with broadened ends.
1877. Bennett, trans. Thomé’s Bot., 109. Accordingly as they belong to the stem as in the vine, or to the leaf as in the tare, they are called stem- or *leaf-tendrils.
1611. Cotgr., Orpel,… a kind of *leafe-tinne.
1600. Rowlands, Lett. Humours Blood, vi. 77. Out upon Cane and *leafe Tabacco smell.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 204. Tobacco … the raw material, as imported with the stalk on it, known as ‘leaf,’ or ‘unstemmed,’ tobacco.
1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 431. We have here ‘common’ bundles [of Phanerogams], each of which has one arm that ascends and bends out into the leaf, and another which descends and runs down into the stem; the latter is called by Hanstein the ‘inner *leaf-trace.’
1877. Bennett, trans. Thomé’s Bot., 360. Leaf-traces.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 212. Where then were all your *Leaf-turners?
1611. Cotgr., Freillure,… *leafe-worke, or a leauie flourishing.
1841. Longf., Childr. Lord’s Supper, 33. Bright-curling tresses of angels Peeped … from out of the shadowy leaf-work.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lxxvii. 51 (Spelman). He sealde *leafwyrme [MS. C. treowyrne, Vulg. ærugini] wæstm heora.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter lxxvii. 46. And to lefe-worme þar fruit gafe he.
1496. Fysshynge w. Angle (1883), 25. The water docke leyf worme and the hornet worme.
