left
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See also: lëft
Etymology 1
From Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic *luft-, from *lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lewp-, *(s)lup- (“hanging limply”). Compare Scots left (“left”), North Frisian lefts, leeft, leefts (“left”), West Frisian lofts (“left”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), Low German lucht (“left”).
Alternative forms
- (political left): Left
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈlɛft/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file) Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛft
Adjective
left (comparative more left or lefter, superlative most left or leftmost)
- Designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←
- (geography) Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's left when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the north bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥲ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the left side of the river.
- 1904 March 23 [1904 March 22], Viceroy Alexieff, quotee, “Waiting for the First Collision in the Yalu Region”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 56, number 215, St. Louis, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 2:
- The following dispatch has been received from Viceroy Alexieff, dated Mukden, March 22:
“Gen. Mitchenkow reports that on March 17 our scouts approached Anju and observed on the left bank of the Ching Chong river, opposite Anju, retrenchments made by the enemy.
- (politics) Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.
- Antonym: right
- 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn:
- It should be noted that there is now no intelligentsia that is not in some sense "Left". Perhaps the last right-wing intellectual was T. E. Lawrence. Since about 1930 everyone describable as an “intellectual” has lived in a state of chronic discontent with the existing order.
Derived terms
left direction:
- allemande left
- audience left
- flush left
- flush left and right
- give one's left nut
- go left
- hard-left
- house left
- left-about
- left arm orthodox
- left arm unorthodox
- left atrium
- left back
- left bank
- left bower
- left bracket
- left brain
- left-brainer
- left-click
- left coast
- left coset
- left-drag
- left eigenvalue
- left eigenvector
- left face
- left field
- left fielder
- left-footed
- left-footer
- left-half
- left hand
- left-hand
- left-handed
- left hooker
- left ideal
- left identity
- left inverse
- left join
- left-justified
- left lane camper
- left lane hog
- left lane hogger
- left lane hugger
- left lateral
- left main
- leftmost
- left nullspace
- left-of-centre
- left outer join
- left-recursive
- left shift
- left-to-right
- left turn (noun)
- left ventricle
- left ventricular ejection time
- left wing
- over the left
- over the left shoulder
- right and left
- right-to-left
- the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing
- two left feet
- two left hands
left-wing (politics):
Translations
west side of the body when one is facing north
|
pertaining to the political left
|
Adverb
left (not comparable)
- On the left side.
- Antonym: right
- Towards the left side.
- Antonym: right
- Turn left at the corner. NO! Your other left.
- Towards the political left.
- Antonym: right
- The East Coast of the US leans left in elections.
Derived terms
- left and right
- left turn (interjection, verb)
- please turn left
- stage left
- swipe left
Translations
on the left side
|
towards the left side
|
Noun
left (plural lefts)
- The left side or direction.
- Synonyms: 9 o'clock, port
- (politics) The left-wing political parties as a group; citizens holding left-wing views as a group.
- The Left left workers behind, thinking they had a winning demographic coalition. It hasn't really worked out for them yet.
- The left hand or fist.
- (boxing) A punch delivered with the left fist.
- 1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13:
- The world 'as got me snouted jist a treat; Crool Forchin's dirty left 'as smote me soul.
- (surfing) A wave breaking from left to right (viewed from the shore).
- Antonym: right
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
the left side
|
the ensemble of left-wing political parties
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Etymology 2
From Middle English left, variant of laft (“remaining, left”), from Old English lǣfd, ġelǣfd, past participle of lǣfan (“to leave”). More at leave.
Verb
left
- simple past and past participle of leave (“depart, separate from; (cause or allow to) remain”).
- There's not much food left.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:
- Shepard: What's wrong with your assistant?
Dr. Warren: Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit... unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin.
Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!
Dr. Warren: I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack.
Derived terms
Translations
remaining
|
Etymology 3
From Middle English levit, ilevet, y-levyd, from Old English ġelȳfd, ġelȳfed, past participle of Old English ġelȳfan, lȳfan (“to allow, permit”), equivalent to leave (“to give leave to, allow, grant, permit”) + -ed.
Verb
left
- simple past and past participle of leave (“permit”).
- We were not left go to the beach after school except on a weekend.
References
- The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, Walter W. Skeat.
Anagrams
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Etymology
From Middle English left, from Old English lyft.
Pronunciation
Adjective
left
- left
- 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 11:
- In durk Ich red virst mee left-vooted shoe."
- In the dark I happened first on my left-footed shoe."
Derived terms
References
- Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129
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