Forms: 1 léaʓ, (lǽʓ), léah, léʓ, 3 leihe, 4 leȝe, liȝe, (5 legh, leyȝe, leygh(e, lyhe), 5–9 lee, lie, ley, (5–6 leye, le, 7 ly), 5– lye. [OE. léaʓ (later léah, genit. léaʓe) str. fem., corresponds to MDu. loghe (Du. loog), OHG. louga (MHG., mod.G. lauge), lye, ON. laug bath:—OTeut. *laugâ; prob. f. the root *lau- to wash (see LATHER) + suffix -gâ:—OAryan -qā.]
1. Alkalized water, primarily that made by the lixiviation of vegetable ashes, but also applied (esp. with prefixed word as in soap-lye, soda-lye) to any strong alkaline solution, esp. one used for the purpose of washing. † Also water of lye.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 591. Lexina, leaʓ [Corpus and Erf. læʓ].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 364. Scinseocum men wyrc drenc of hwites hundes þoste on bitere leʓe wundorlice hyt hæleð. Ibid., II. 338. Wyrc him leaʓe of ellen ahsan.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 93. If þat þou waische hem boþe [a cankre & a foul vlcus] wiþ liȝe. Ibid. Þe vlcus is clensid wiþ þilke liȝe [v.r. leyȝe].
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., II. 377. Wete hit [a tree] at the fulle Thrie euery mone a yer in lie allone.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 32. Take a gode quantyte of fyne leye, & put it on a potte … & whan þe ley is seþin hot, caste þe Pesyn þer-to.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 195. Watyr of legh þat is made wyth asschys & watyr,… for asschys & hote watyr makyn good leyghe.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. ii. 10. But man shall be baptysed in necessyte with le.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 60. The Lee or Lixivium wherewith the Women usually scour their Clothes.
1704. N. N., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., III. 287. Henry the Fourth, thought it an Honour to wash his Head … though some malicious People say, He did it not with Soap, but with hot scalding Lye.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 544. Muriate of potash. This salt … is prepared from the waste leys of the soap-makers.
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ iv. (1900), 32. The officers … were content with ley, which was furnished in plenty by the ashes from the galley fire.
b. In wider sense: Any detergent material used in washing; a cleansing substance. Also fig.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 95. Nis ðar non swo god leiȝe se teares.
12[?]. Prayer to our Lady, 19, in O. E. Misc., 193. Mi brune her is hwit bicume ich not for hwucche leihe.
c. 1330. Spec. Gy Warw., 828. Þe hote teres of mannes eiȝe Makeþ clannere þan any liȝe.
1340. Ayenb., 145. Þet is þet we byeþ alle y-wasse of onelepi leȝe, Þet wes mid Iesu cristes preciouse blod.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 21855. Wyth wych water, dame Penaunce Maketh a lye … To wasshen a-way al ordure.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 324. The vrin of a yong Asse fole is supposed to thicken the haire: but there would be mixed some Spiknard with this washing lie, to rectifie the strong sent of the said vrine.
1648. Herrick, Hesper. (1869), 190. Feacie, some say, doth wash her clothes i’ th’ lie That sharply trickles from her either eye.
† c. A cosmetic for the hair. (Cf. LYE-POT.) Obs.
15[?]. Withals, Dict. (1568), 51 a/2. Lie to wasshe the head with, lixiuium.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, II. (1577), L iij b. I reprehended a ladie of loue for occupying a certain kinde of lye yt shined much.
† d. Applied to urine used as a detergent; more fully CHAMBER-LYE. Obs.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 593/23. Locium, lye, or pysse.
2. Water impregnated with salts by decoction or lixiviation. Now rare.
1634. Peacham, Gentl. Exerc., I. xxiii. 77. The Lie of Rue, (that is the water wherein you have sod your Rue or herb-grace).
1644. Nye, Gunnery (1670), 14. Pour upon the said flower so much of the strained water, which I call lee or lime water, as will dissolve the flower.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., VI. xii. 337. Colcothar or vitriol burnt … will make good Inke, and so will the Lixivium or Lye made thereof with warme water.
1811. Self Instructor, 562. A ley made with tartar and gum-water.
1860. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, i. § 43. They [waters] find their way into the sea, and so make the lye of the earth brine for the ocean. Ibid., x. § 461. The brine of the ocean is the ley of the earth.
3. The limpid acrid fluid that runs from a blister or the like; the ‘water’ that collects in the body in dropsy. Now only dial.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 92. His Nauell suddenly opened whence issued so great quantity of the dropsy Lie, that his body fell to the wonted scantling.
1886. S. W. Linc. Gloss., Lee (so pronounced),… the watery matter which issues from a wound or sore: as ‘It’s more like lee than matter.’
4. attrib. and Comb. (sense 1), as lye-ashes, -brush, -kettle, -trough, -tub, -vessel, -wash. Also LYE-POT.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 599. Hereupon comes Lixivus cinis, i. Lie ashes, which being drunk is medicinable.
1605. Timme, Quersit., II. iii. 115. Lye-wash … is made of ashes and water.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xi. ¶ 22. The Lye Brush is made of Hogs Bristles fastned into a Board with Brass-Wyer. Ibid. A Lye-Kettle … commonly holds about three Gallons. Ibid. The Lye-Trough … is a Square Trough made of Inch-Boards.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, II. (ed. 2), 109. A Lye-tub, though generally neglected as the worst … for a Cooler, has really proved the sweetest and safest of any.
1763. Museum Rusticum, I. 53. The straw in the bottom of your lye-vessel.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 489. As soon as a form is wrought-off, the press-man to carry it to the lye-trough, and there completely rub it over with lye.
1882. J. Southward, Pract. Printing (1884), 406. Lye is applied to the forme with a lye brush.
