of, relating to, or located on or near the side of a person or thing that is turned toward the west when the person or thing is facing north (opposed to right ):He uses his left hand to hold his fork.
Government(often: Left) of or belonging to the political left wing or side; having liberal or radical views in politics.
n.
the left side, or something on the left side:[uncountable]Look to your left.
a turn toward the left:[countable]Make a left at the next corner.
to go out of or away from, as a place: [~ + object]to leave the house.[no object]We left for the airport.
to quit:[~ + object]to leave a job.
to let remain behind:[~ + object]The bear left tracks in the snow.
to let stay or be in the condition stated:[~ + object]Leave the motor running.
to let remain in a position to do something without being bothered:[~ + object]We left him to his work.
to let (a thing) remain for another's action or decision:[~ + object]We left the details to the lawyer.
to give in charge; entrust:[~ + object]Leave the package with my neighbor.
to turn aside from; abandon or disregard:[~ + object]She left music to study engineering.
to give for use after one's death or departure: [~ + object + to + object]to leave one's money to charity.[~ + object + object]She left him a lot of money.
to have remaining after death:[~ + object]He leaves a wife and three children.
to have as a remainder after subtraction:[not: be + ~-ing* ~ + object]2 from 4 leaves 2.
leave off:
[no object] to stop; cease; discontinue:The professor couldn't remember where she had left off from the previous lecture.
to omit: [~ + object + off]We left him off the list.[~ + off + object]We left off too many of her relatives from the list.
leave out, to omit; exclude: [~ + out + object]She left out a few important statistics.[~ + object + out]You left them out of your report.
of, pertaining to, or located on or near the side of a person or thing that is turned toward the west when the subject is facing north (opposed to right).
Government(often cap.) of or belonging to the political Left; having liberal or radical views in politics.
Mathematicspertaining to an element of a set that has a given property when written on the left of an element or set of elements of the set:a left identity, as 1 in 1 · x= x.
n.
the left side or something that is on the left side.
a turn toward the left:Make a left at the next corner.
Governmentthe Left:
the complex of individuals or organized groups advocating liberal reform or revolutionary change in the social, political, or economic order.
the position held by these people. Cf. right (def. 34a, b).
See left wing.
Government(usually cap.)
the part of a legislative assembly, esp. in continental Europe, that is situated on the left side of the presiding officer and that is customarily assigned to members of the legislature who hold more radical and socialistic views than the rest of the members.
the members of such an assembly who sit on the left.
Sport[Boxing.]a blow delivered by the left hand.
Sport[Baseball.]See left field (def. 1).
adv.
toward the left:She moved left on entering the room.
1125–75; 1935–40 for def. 6; Middle English left, lift, luft, Old English left idle, weak, useless, Kentish form of lyft- (in lyftādl palsy); cognate with Dutch, Low German lucht; akin to Middle English libbe (modern dialect, dialectal lib) to castrate, cognate with Dutch, Low German lubben
to go out of or away from, as a place:to leave the house.
to depart from permanently; quit:to leave a job.
to let remain or have remaining behind after going, disappearing, ceasing, etc.:I left my wallet home. The wound left a scar.
to allow to remain in the same place, condition, etc.:Is there any coffee left?
to let stay or be as specified:to leave a door unlocked.
to let (a person or animal) remain in a position to do something without interference:We left him to his work.
to let (a thing) remain for action or decision:We left the details to the lawyer.
to give in charge; deposit; entrust:Leave the package with the receptionist. I left my name and phone number.
to stop; cease; give up:He left music to study law.
to disregard; neglect:We will leave this for the moment and concentrate on the major problem.
to give for use after one's death or departure:to leave all one's money to charity.
to have remaining after death:He leaves a wife and three children.
to have as a remainder after subtraction:2 from 4 leaves 2.
Slang Terms[Nonstandard.]let1 (defs. 1, 2, 6).
v.i.
to go away, depart, or set out:We leave for Europe tomorrow.
leave alone. See alone (def. 4).
leave off:
to desist from; cease; stop; abandon.
to stop using or wearing:It had stopped raining, so we left off our coats.
to omit:to leave a name off a list.
leave out, to omit; exclude:She left out an important detail in her account.
bef. 900; Middle English leven, Old English lǣfan (causative formation from base of lāf remainder; see lave2); cognate with Old High German leiban (compare German bleiben to remain), Old Norse leifa, Gothic -laibjan
leav′er, n.
1, 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged abandon, forsake, desert; relinquish.
9.See corresponding entry in Unabridged forbear, renounce.
10.See corresponding entry in Unabridged ignore, forget.
11.See corresponding entry in Unabridged bequeath, will; devise, transmit.
1, 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged join.
Leave is interchangeable with let when followed by alone with the sense "to refrain from annoying or interfering with'':Leave (or Let) her alone and she will solve the problem easily.When he was left (or let) alone without interruptions, the boy quickly assembled the apparatus. The use of leavealone for letalone in the sense "not to mention'' is nonstandard:There wasn't any standing room, let (not leave) alone a seat, so I missed the performance.Other substitutions of leave for let are generally regarded as nonstandard:Let (not Leave) us sit down and talk this over.Let (not Leave) her do it her own way.The police wouldn't let (not leave) us cross the barriers. See also let1.
leave2(lēv),USA pronunciationn.
permission to do something:to beg leave to go elsewhere.
permission to be absent, as from work or military duty:The firm offers a maternity leave as part of its benefit program.
the time this permission lasts:30 days' leave.
a parting; departure; farewell:He took his leave before the formal ceremonies began. We took leave of them after dinner.
Metallurgydraft (def. 23).
[Bowling.]the pin or pins in upright position after the bowl of the first ball.
bef. 900; Middle English leve, Old English lēaf; akin to believe,furlough,lief
1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged –3. liberty.
2, 3.See corresponding entry in Unabridged vacation, furlough.
(usually prenominal)of or designating the side of something or someone that faces west when the front is turned towards the north
(usually prenominal)worn on a left hand, foot, etc
(sometimes capital)of or relating to the political or intellectual left
(sometimes capital)radical or progressive, esp as compared to less radical or progressive groups, persons, etc
on or in the direction of the left
a left side, direction, position, area, or part
Related adjective(s): sinister, sinistral
(often capital)the supporters or advocates of varying degrees of social, political, or economic change, reform, or revolution designed to promote the greater freedom, power, welfare, or comfort of ordinary people
a blow with the left hand
the left hand
Etymology: Old English left idle, weak, variant of lyft- (in lyftādl palsy, literally: left-disease); related to Middle Dutch lucht left