ley

See also: Ley and leþ

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leɪ/, /liː/
• Rhymes: -eɪ, -iː

Etymology 1

See lea.

Noun

ley (plural leys)

1. Alternative spelling of lea
2. (agriculture) Arable land used temporarily for hay or grazing.
3. A ley line.
   • 2010, Philip Carr-Gomm, Richard Heygate, The Book of English Magic:

     For a ley hunter, local people – particularly the elderly – can be mines of information. Devereux and Thomson recount how they asked a septuagenarian in a remote village the location of an elusive stone, without mentioning the subject of leys: […]

Derived terms

• Blackbird Leys

Translations

arable land used temporarily for hay or grazing

Hungarian: ugar (hu), kaszáló (hu), legelő (hu)

ley line — see ley line

Adjective

ley (not comparable)

1. (agriculture) Fallow; unseeded.
2. (agriculture) Rotated to pasture instead of cropping.

Translations

fallow; unseeded

Hungarian: ugarnak hagyott, ugaron hagyott, vetetlen (hu)

Etymology 2

Noun

ley

1. Archaic form of lye.

Etymology 3

Noun

ley

1. (obsolete) Law.

See also

• peso ley

Anagrams

• Ely, Lye, lye, yel

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish ley.

Noun

ley

1. law

Fula

Preposition

ley

1. (Maasina) in

   A ɗuunnii sukkara ley cafe ɗe.

   You put too much sugar in the coffee.

   O tummbeke ley akalawal mobel am.

   He got into the back of my truck.

   Taa ŋawlunduree ley suudu ga, njehee sella.

   Don't wrestle in the house, go outside.

2. under

References

• Richard Smith, Urs Niggli, Dictionnaire fulfulde - anglais - français, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2016.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English lēah, lēaġe (“a clearing in the woods”).

Noun

ley (plural leys)

1. an open field or meadow

Descendants

• English: ley, lea

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin lēgem, accusative of lēx. Compare Old French lei, loi.

Noun

ley f (oblique plural leys, nominative singular ley, nominative plural leys)

1. law

Descendants

• Occitan: lei

Portuguese

Noun

ley f (plural leys)

1. Obsolete spelling of lei.

Spanish

Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:

ley

Wikipedia ^es

Etymology

Inherited from Latin lēgem (whence English legal and legitimate), from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s, from *leǵ- (“to gather”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlei/ [ˈlei̯]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: ley

Noun

ley f (plural leyes)

1. law (a well-established characteristic of nature)
2. law (body of rules issued by a legislative body)
3. law (particular piece of legislation)
4. religion, credence, worship of a god

Hyponyms

• ley del buen samaritano
• ley natural (“natural law”)

 

Derived terms

• a la ley
• con todas las de la ley
• costumbre fuera de ley
• de buena ley
• de ley
• de mala ley
• decreto ley
• fuera de la ley
• generales de la ley
• hecha la ley, hecha la trampa
• imperio de la ley
• ley de atracción
• ley de bases
• ley de Coulomb
• ley de Dios
• ley de enjuiciamiento
• ley de Hooke
• ley de la selva
• ley de la trampa
• ley de la ventaja
• ley de los grandes números
• ley de Moisés
• ley de Murphy
• ley de Ohm
• ley de vida
• ley del embudo
• ley del silencio
• ley fundamental
• ley marcial
• ley natural
• ley orgánica
• ley seca
• ley universal
• proposición de ley
• proposición no de ley
• proyecto de ley (“bill, draft law”)
• proyecto de ley
• quebrar la ley, quebrantar la ley (“to break the law”)
• reserva de ley
• tablas de la ley

 

Related terms

• leal
• legal
• legislar
• legítimo
• lindo

 

Further reading

• “ley”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10