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lever

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Lever

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A lever
A lever diagram

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English lever, levore, levour, from Old French leveor, leveur (a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)), from Latin levātor (a lifter), from levō (to raise). Doublet of levator.

Noun

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lever (plural levers)

  1. (mechanics) A rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (the fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied; — used for transmitting and modifying force and motion.
    1. Specifically, a bar of metal, wood or other rigid substance, used to exert a pressure, or sustain a weight, at one point of its length, by receiving a force or power at a second, and turning at a third on a fixed point called a fulcrum. It is usually named as the first of the six mechanical powers, and is of three kinds, according as either the fulcrum F, the weight W, or the power P, respectively, is situated between the other two, as in the figures.
      • 1952 September, “Modernised Pull-and-Push Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 617:
        Retractable steps and handrails are provided on each side of the cars. The steps, which are under the control of the guard, are operated by hand levers in the entrance vestibule.
  2. A small such piece to trigger or control a mechanical device (like a switch or a button).
  3. (mechanics) A bar, as a capstan bar, applied to a rotatory piece to turn it.
    • 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
      A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
  4. (mechanics) An arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it.
  5. (obsolete, except in generalized senses below) A crowbar.
    • 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.1:
      My lord, I brained him with a lever my neighbour lent me, and he stood by and cried, ‘Strike home, old boy!’
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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lever (third-person singular simple present levers, present participle levering, simple past and past participle levered)

  1. (transitive) To move with a lever.
    With great effort and a big crowbar I managed to lever the beam off the floor.
    • 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VII, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:
      Someone found a pick and levered a burst plank out of the floor, and in a few minutes we had got a fire alight and our drenched clothes were steaming.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).
    • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 1:
      Suddenly he had levered himself up from the sofa, rocking the lame man violently, and was walking towards the receptionist.
    • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation[2], archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
      The guard at the door coughed up blood, and died instantly. Fina was carrying an empty rifle with a sharpened bayonet, and she'd thrust it straight up through his neck, severing the spinal cord. She levered him off the front stoop and into the bushes, then stood up on the tips of her toes to peer through the window in the door.
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To use (something) like a lever (in an abstract sense).
    • 2001 April 9, Joshua Cooper Ramo, “Bagging the Butcher”, in Time:
      He was a man who levered his way from small-time communist hack to political power by tapping into the most potent vein of historical juice in the Balkans: nationalism.
    • 2013 December 8, Robert McCrum, “Biographies of the year — review”, in The Guardian:
      Credited with pioneering the detective novel, Collins has attracted many biographers over the years, drawn to his extraordinary life and work in the hope of levering open a new understanding of the Victorian psyche.
  4. (chiefly UK, finance) To increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.
    • 1989 June 26, “Corporate America wants its privacy”, in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
      "The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English lever, comparative of leve, leef (dear, beloved, lief), equivalent to lief +‎ -er. Related to German lieber (rather).

Alternative forms

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Adverb

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lever (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Rather.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Borrowed from French lever.

Noun

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lever (plural levers)

  1. (rare) A levee.
    • 1742, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Delany's Letters, II.191:
      We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.
    • 2011 September 21, Tim Blanning, “The reinvention of the night”, in Times Literary Supplement:
      Louis XIV’s day began with a lever at 9 and ended (officially) at around midnight.

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ lever”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ lever”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ^ lever”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

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Danish

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Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology 1

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From Old Danish liuær, from Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, cognate with English liver and German Leber. The Germanic word may be an irregular remodelling of the Proto-Indo-European word for "liver", *yókʷr̥, cf. Ancient Greek ἧπαρ (hêpar) and Latin iecur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lever c (singular definite leveren, plural indefinite levere)

  1. liver
Inflection
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈleːʋɐ], [ˈleːwɐ]

Verb

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lever

  1. present of leve

Etymology 3

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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lever or levér

  1. imperative of levere

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-West Germanic *libru, from Proto-Germanic *librō.

Noun

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lever f (plural levers, diminutive levertje n)

  1. liver
  2. edible animal liver as a dish or culinary ingredient
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Afrikaans: lewer
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: lefre
  • Negerhollands: leber
  • Aukan: lebii
  • Indonesian: lever
  • Saramaccan: lebèn
  • Sranan Tongo: lefre
    • Caribbean Javanese: léfer

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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lever

  1. inflection of leveren:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French lever, from Old French lever, from Latin levāre (to elevate), from levis (light, not heavy).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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lever

  1. (transitive) to raise, lift
    Antonym: baisser
  2. (reflexive) to rise, stand up
    Antonym: s’abaisser
  3. (reflexive, of celestial bodies) to rise, come up
    Antonym: se coucher
    Le Soleil se lève à l’est et se couche à l’ouest.The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
  4. (reflexive) to get up (out of bed)
    Antonyms: se coucher, s’allonger
    Je me lève, je me lave.I get up, I wash.
  5. (reflexive, of fog, rain, etc.) to clear, lift

Conjugation

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This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il lève and the third-person singular future indicative il lèvera.

Derived terms

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Noun

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lever m (plural levers)

  1. the act of getting up in the morning

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Hungarian

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Etymology

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le- +‎ ver

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛvɛr]
  • Hyphenation: le‧ver
  • Rhymes: -ɛr

Verb

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lever

  1. (transitive) to knock down

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • lever in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Indonesian

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Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia id

Etymology

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From Dutch lever (liver), from Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-Germanic *librō. Doublet of liver.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛvər]
  • Hyphenation: lè‧vêr

Noun

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lèvêr

  1. liver.
    Synonym: hati

Alternative forms

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Further reading

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Latin

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Verb

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lēver

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of lēvō

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Comparative of leve (dear) of Germanic origin (compare German lieb) or lief.

Adverb

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lever

  1. Rather.
    For him was lever have at his bed's head
    Twenty bookes, clad in black or red,
    . . . Than robes rich, or fithel, or gay sawtrie.
    The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
    But lever than this worldés good
    She would have wist how that it stood
    Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, John Gower.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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lever

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (liver)

Etymology 3

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Noun

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lever

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (living being)

Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French lever.

Verb

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lever

  1. to lift

Conjugation

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  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

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References

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  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (lever, supplement)

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Pronunciation

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This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Etymology 1

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From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide).

Noun

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lever m or f (definite singular leveren or levra, indefinite plural levere or levre or levrer, definite plural leverne or levrene)

  1. (anatomy) a liver
  2. liver (eaten as food)
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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lever

  1. present tense of leve
  2. imperative of levere

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology 1

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide). Akin to English liver.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lever f (definite singular levra, indefinite plural levrar or levrer, definite plural levrane or levrene)

  1. (anatomy) a liver
  2. liver (eaten as food)
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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lever

  1. present of leve

Further reading

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Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin lēvāre.

Verb

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lever

  1. to lift (up)
  2. (reflexive, se lever) to get up (get out of bed)

Conjugation

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This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. This verb has a stressed present stem liev distinct from the unstressed stem lev. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

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Old Swedish

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Etymology

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From Old Norse hleifr, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz.

Noun

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lēver m

  1. loaf, bread

Declension

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Descendants

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Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (to smudge, stick), from *ley- (to be slimy, be sticky, glide).

Noun

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lever c

  1. (anatomy) liver
Declension
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Declension of lever
nominative genitive
singular indefinite lever levers
definite levern leverns
plural indefinite levrar levrars
definite levrarna levrarnas
Derived terms
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  • levra (clot, coagulate)

Etymology 2

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Verb

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lever

  1. present indicative of leva

References

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