LYE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Lye

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noun

Lye n. (Written also lie and ley)

A strong caustic alkaline solution of potassium salts, obtained by leaching wood ashes. It is much used in making soap, etc.

(Chem.) Sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, or a concentrated aqueous solution of either compound.

Lye n. (Railroad) A short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding. (Eng.)

Lye n. A falsehood. (Obs.) See Lie.

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Etymology of 'Lye'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lye" Quotes from Famous Books

... and Woollens require the constant care of the waiting-maid. Furs and feathers not in constant use should be wrapped up in linen washed in lye. From May to September they are subject to being made the depositary of the moth-eggs. They should be looked too, and shaken and beaten, from time to time, in case some of the eggs should have been lodged in them, in spite of every precaution; laying them up again, or rather folding ...

— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... not give us the lye] [W: do give] The meaning is, they are paid for lying, therefore they do not give us the lye, they sell it ...

— Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare Vol. I Comedies • Samuel Johnson

... in stede of a preface an insinu- acion. That what thynge poetes or com- mune fame doth eyther prayse or dispraise ought nat to be gyuen credence to / but ra- ther to be suspecte. For ones it is the na- ture of poetes to fayne and lye / as bothe Homere and Virgile / which are the prin- ces and heddes of al poetes to witnesse the[m] selfe. Of whome Homere sayth / that poe- tes make many lies / and Virgile he saith: The moost part of the sene is but deceyte. [B.vi.r] Poetes haue sene blake soules vnder the erthe / poetes haue fayned ...

— The Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke • Leonard Cox

... water gruell, and a mouthfull of bread, and beife." He stated that of twenty who came the last year but three were left. In all, he said, "wee are but thirty-two." The Indians he feared; "the nighest helpe that Wee have is ten miles of us." Here "wee lye even in their teeth." The break in the monotony, it seems, was an occasional trip to Jamestown "that is ten miles of us, there be all the ships that come to the land, and there must deliver their goodes." The ...

— The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 • Charles E. Hatch

... to false conclusions in others; and that a person, who through a window sees any lewd behaviour of mine with my neighbour's wife, may be so simple as to imagine she is certainly my own. In this respect my action resembles somewhat a lye or falshood; only with this difference, which is material, that I perform not the action with any intention of giving rise to a false judgment in another, but merely to satisfy my lust and passion. It causes, however, a mistake and false judgment by accident; and the falshood ...

— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume

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