Lenitiveness (Len"i*tive*ness), n. The quality of being lenitive.
Lenitude (Len"i*tude) n. [L. lenitudo.] The quality or habit of being lenient; lenity. [Obs.] Blount.
Lenity (Len"i*ty) n. [L. lenitas, fr. lenis soft, mild: cf. OF. lenité. See Lenient.] The state or quality of
being lenient; mildness of temper or disposition; gentleness of treatment; softness; tenderness; clemency; —
opposed to severity and rigor.
His exceeding lenity disposes us to be somewhat too severe.
Lenni-Lenape (Len`ni-Len*a"pe) (len`ni- len*ä"pa), n. pl.(Ethnol.) A general name for a group of Algonquin
tribes which formerly occupied the coast region of North America from Connecticut to Virginia. They
included the Mohicans, Delawares, Shawnees, and several other tribes.
Leno (Le"no) n. [Cf. It. leno weak, flexible.] A light open cotton fabric used for window curtains.
Lenocinant (Le*noc"i*nant) a. [L. lenocinans, p. pr. of lenocinari to pander, cajole; akin to leno pimp.]
Given to lewdness. [Obs.]
Lens (Lens) n.; pl.Lenses [L. lens a lentil. So named from the resemblance in shape of a double
convex lens to the seed of a lentil. Cf. Lentil.] (Opt.) A piece of glass, or other transparent substance,
ground with two opposite regular surfaces, either both curved, or one curved and the other plane, and
commonly used, either singly or combined, in optical instruments, for changing the direction of rays of
light, and thus magnifying objects, or otherwise modifying vision. In practice, the curved surfaces are
usually spherical, though rarely cylindrical, or of some other figure.
Lenses
Of spherical lenses, there are six varieties, as shown in section in the figures herewith given: viz., a
plano-concave; b double-concave; c plano-convex; d double- convex; e converging concavo-convex, or
converging meniscus; f diverging concavo-convex, or diverging meniscus.
Crossed lens
(Opt.), a double-convex lens with one radius equal to six times the other. —
(Opt.), a compound lens formed by placing around a central
convex lens rings of glass so curved as to have the same focus; used, especially in lighthouses, for concentrating
light in a particular direction; — so called from the inventor. —
Multiplying
lens or glass
(Opt.), a
lens one side of which is plane and the other convex, but made up of a number of plane faces inclined
to one another, each of which presents a separate image of the object viewed through it, so that the
object is, as it were, multiplied. —
Lent (Lent), n. [OE. lente, lenten, leynte, AS. lengten, lencten, spring, lent, akin to D. lente, OHG.
lenzin, langiz, G. lenz, and perh. fr. AS. lang long, E. long, because at this season of the year the
days lengthen.] (Eccl.) A fast of forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing till Easter,
observed by some Christian churches as commemorative of the fast of our Savior.
Lent lily
(Bot.), the daffodil; — so named from its blossoming in spring.
Lent (Lent), a. [L. lentus; akin to lenis soft, mild: cf. F. lent. See Lenient.]
1. Slow; mild; gentle; as, lenter heats. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
