leash

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Pronunciation

• (British, America) IPA: /liːʃ/

Noun

leash (plural leashes)

1. A strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog.

   Synonyms: lead

   • c. 1605-1610, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act I, Scene 6

     like a fawning greyhound in the leash

2. A brace and a half; a tierce.
3. A set of three; three creatures of any kind, especially greyhounds, foxes, bucks, and hares; hence, the number three in general.
   • 1597, Henry IV part 1, by Shakespeare

     Sirrah, I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers; and can call them all by their Christian names, as, Tom, Dick, and Francis.

   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1

     It had an odd promiscuous tone, / As if h' had talk'd three parts in one; / Which made some think, when he did gabble, / Th' had heard three labourers of Babel; / Or Cerberus himself pronounce / A leash of languages at once.

   • Ben Jonson

     [I] kept my chamber a leash of days.

   • Tennyson

     Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings.

4. A string with a loop at the end for lifting warp threads, in a loom.
5. (surfing) A leg rope.

Translations

• French: laisse
• German: Hundeleine
• Italian: guinzaglio
• Portuguese: coleira, guia
• Russian: поводо́к
• Spanish: correa

Translations

• Russian: тро́йка

Verb

leash (leashes, present participle leashing; past and past participle leashed)

1. To fasten or secure with a leash.
2. (figuratively) to curb, restrain
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Man is brow-beaten, leashed, muzzled, masked, and lashed by boards and councils, by leagues and societies, by church and state.

Antonyms

• unleash

Translations

• Portuguese: encoleirar

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