different between convey vs lead

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French conveier (French French convoyer), from Vulgar Latin *convio, from Classical Latin via (“way”). Compare convoy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?ve?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

convey (third-person singular simple present conveys, present participle conveying, simple past and past participle conveyed)

1. To move (something) from one place to another.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 1 Kings 5:8-9,^[1]

     […] I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there […]

   • 1858, Henry Gray, London: John W. Parker & Son, “Female Organs of Generation,” p. 688,^[2]

     The Fallopian Tubes, or oviducts, convey the ova from the ovaries to the cavity of the uterus.
2. (dated) To take or carry (someone) from one place to another.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act II, Scene 1,^[3]

     Convey me to my bed, then to my grave:

     Love they to live that love and honour have.

   • 1717, Samuel Croxall (translator), Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, Translated by the Most Eminent Hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Book the Sixth, p. 200,^[4]

     […] the false Tyrant seiz’d the Princely Maid,

     And to a Lodge in distant Woods convey’d;

   • 1817, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 19,^[5]

     It began to rain, not much, but enough to make shelter desirable for women, and quite enough to make it very desirable for Miss Elliot to have the advantage of being conveyed home in Lady Dalrymple’s carriage, which was seen waiting at a little distance […]

3. To communicate; to make known; to portray.
   • 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, London: Thomas Basset, Book III, Chapter 9, p. 232,^[6]

     To make Words serviceable to the end of Communication is necessary […] that they excite, in the Hearer, exactly the same Idea they stand for, in the Mind of the Speaker: Without this, Men fill one another’s Heads with noise and sounds; but convey not thereby their Thoughts, and lay not before one another their Ideas, which is the end of Discourse and Language.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 6, p. 27,^[7]

     This excellent Method of conveying a Falshood with the Heart only, without making the Tongue guilty of an Untruth, by the Means of Equivocation and Imposture, hath quieted the Conscience of many a notable Deceiver […]

   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter 3,^[8]

     I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling.

   • 1927, Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Chapter 1,^[9]

     To her son these words conveyed an extraordinary joy, as if it were settled, the expedition were bound to take place, and the wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years it seemed, was, after a night’s darkness and a day’s sail, within touch.

4. (law) To transfer legal rights (to).

   He conveyed ownership of the company to his daughter.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the Present State of Ireland, Dublin, The Hibernia Press, 1809, p. 42,^[10]

     […] before his breaking forth into open rebellion, [the Earle of Desmond] had conveyed secretly all his lands to feoffees of trust, in hope to have cut off her Maiestie from the escheate of his lands.

5. (obsolete) To manage with privacy; to carry out.
   • 1557, uncredited translator, A Mery Dialogue by Erasmus, London: Antony Kytson,^[11]

     I shall so conuey my matters, that he shall dysclose all together hym selfe, what busynesse is betwene you […]

   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 2,^[12]

     I will seek him, sir, presently; convey the business as I shall find means, and acquaint you withal.

6. (obsolete) To carry or take away secretly; to steal; to thieve.
   • 1592, Robert Greene, A Disputation betweene a Hee Conny-Catcher and a Shee Conny-Catcher, London: T. Gubbin,

     Suppose you are good at the lift, who be more cunning then we women, in that we are more trusted, for they little suspect vs, and we haue as close conueyance as you men, though you haue Cloakes, we haue skirts of gownes, handbaskets, the crownes of our hattes, our plackardes, and for a need, false bagges vnder our smockes, wherein we can conuey more closely then you.

Synonyms

• (to move something from one place to another): carry, transport
• (to take someone from one place to another): accompany, conduct (archaic), escort
• (to communicate a message): express, send, relay

Derived terms

Related terms

• convoy

Translations

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English led, leed, from Old English l?ad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), borrowed from Proto-Celtic *?loudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“lead”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”). Doublet of loth. More at flow.

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?d, IPA^(key): /l?d/
• Homophone: led

Noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

1. (uncountable) A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
2. (countable, nautical) A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or (dated) to estimate velocity in knots.
3. A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
4. (uncountable, typography) Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.

5. Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
6. (plural leads) A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
7. (countable) A thin cylinder of black lead or plumbago (graphite) used in pencils.
8. (slang) Bullets; ammunition.

Derived terms

Translations

See lead/translations § Etymology 1.

Verb

lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle leaded)

1. (transitive) To cover, fill, or affect with lead

2. (transitive, printing, historical) To place leads between the lines of.

Usage notes

Note carefully these three senses are verbs derived from the noun referring to the metallic element, and are unrelated to the heteronym defined below under #Etymology 2.

Translations

See lead/translations § Etymology 1.

See also

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2021) , “Lead”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database
• “lead”, in Mindat.org?^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2021.
• lead on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English leden, from Old English l?dan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijan? (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *l?þan? (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leit-, *leith- (“to leave, die”).

Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”). Related to Old English l?þan (“to go, travel”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: l?d, IPA^(key): /li?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /lid/
• Homophones: leed, lede

Verb

lead (third-person singular simple present leads, present participle leading, simple past and past participle led)

2. (heading, transitive) To guide or conduct.
   1. To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.

      • If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch.

      • They thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill.
   2. To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of, to lead a pupil; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions.

      • The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way.

      • He leadeth me beside the still waters.
   3. (figuratively): To direct; to counsel; to instruct

   4. To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit.
      • 1664, Robert South, A Sermon Preached Before the University at Christ-Church, Oxon

        Christ took not upon him flesh and blood that he might conquer and rule nations, lead armies, or possess places.

   5. To guide or conduct oneself in, through, or along (a certain course); hence, to proceed in the way of; to follow the path or course of; to pass; to spend. Also, to cause (one) to proceed or follow in (a certain course).

      • That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.

      • 1849, Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H, XXXIII

        Nor thou with shadow'd hint confuse / A life that leads melodious days.

      • 1849-50, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter 61

        You remember […] the life he used to lead his wife and daughter.

3. (intransitive) To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; — used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.
4. (heading) To begin, to be ahead.
   1. (transitive) To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among.
      • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso

        As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.

      • c. 1819, Leigh Hunt, Abou Ben Adhem

        And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
   2. (intransitive) To lead off or out, to go first; to begin.
   3. (intransitive) To be more advanced in technology or business than others.
   4. (heading, sports)
      1. (transitive, card games, dominoes) To begin a game, round, or trick, with

      2. (intransitive) To be ahead of others, e.g., in a race.
      3. (intransitive) To have the highest interim score in a game.
      4. (baseball) To step off base and move towards the next base.

      5. (shooting) To aim in front of a moving target, in order that the shot may hit the target as it passes.
      6. (transitive, climbing) Lead climb.
5. (transitive) To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure
   • 1649, King Charles I of England, Eikon Basilike

     He was driven by the necessities of the times, more than led by his own disposition, to any rigor of actions.

   • Silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts.
6. (intransitive) To tend or reach in a certain direction, or to a certain place.
   • ca. 1590, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, V-ii

     The mountain-foot that leads towards Mantua.
7. To produce (with to).
8. Misspelling of led.
9. (transitive) To live or experience (a particular way of life).

Derived terms

Related terms

• lad, laddie

Translations

See lead/translations § Etymology 2.

Noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

1. (countable) The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course
   • 1796, Edmund Burke, a letter to a noble lord

     At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, […] I am sure I did my country important service.

2. (countable) Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in a game in an incomplete game.
3. (Britain, countable) An insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.
4. (baseball) The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.

5. (uncountable, card games, dominoes) The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played

6. (acting) The main role in a play or film; the lead role.
7. (acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.
8. (business) The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.

   John is the development lead on this software product.

9. (countable) A channel of open water in an ice field.
10. (countable, mining) A lode.
11. (nautical) The course of a rope from end to end.
12. A rope, leather strap, or similar device with which to lead an animal; a leash
13. In a steam engine, the width of port opening which is uncovered by the valve, for the admission or release of steam, at the instant when the piston is at end of its stroke.
    • Usage note: When used alone it means outside lead, or lead for the admission of steam. Inside lead refers to the release or exhaust.
14. Charging lead. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
15. (civil engineering) The distance of haul, as from a cutting to an embankment.
16. (horology) The action of a tooth, such as a tooth of a wheel, in impelling another tooth or a pallet.
17. Hypothesis that has not been pursued

18. Information obtained by a detective or police officer that allows him or her to discover further details about a crime or incident.

19. (marketing) Potential opportunity for a sale or transaction, a potential customer.

20. Information obtained by a news reporter about an issue or subject that allows him or her to discover more details.
21. (curling) The player who throws the first two rocks for a team.
22. (newspapers) A teaser; a lead-in; the start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how. (Sometimes spelled as lede for this usage to avoid ambiguity.)
23. An important news story that appears on the front page of a newspaper or at the beginning of a news broadcast
24. (engineering) The axial distance a screw thread travels in one revolution. It is equal to the pitch times the number of starts.
25. (music) In a barbershop quartet, the person who sings the melody, usually the second tenor
26. (music) The announcement by one voice part of a theme to be repeated by the other parts.
27. (music) A mark or a short passage in one voice part, as of a canon, serving as a cue for the entrance of others.
28. (engineering) The excess above a right angle in the angle between two consecutive cranks, as of a compound engine, on the same shaft.
29. (electrical) The angle between the line joining the brushes of a continuous-current dynamo and the diameter symmetrical between the poles.
30. (electrical) The advance of the current phase in an alternating circuit beyond that of the electromotive force producing it.

Usage notes

Note that these noun (attributive) uses are all derived from the verb, not the chemical element in #Etymology 1.

Derived terms

Translations

See lead/translations § Etymology 2.

Adjective

lead (not comparable)

1. (not comparable) Foremost.

   Synonyms: first, front, head, leader, leading

2. (music) main, principal
   • 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera:

     Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand's ex-prime minister, has missed a verdict in a negligence trial that could have seen her jailed, prompting the Supreme Court to say it will issue an arrest warrant fearing she is a flight risk, according to the lead judge in the case.

Etymology 3

Verb

lead

1. Misspelling of led.

References

• lead in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• ALDE, Adel, Dale, Deal, Dela, E.D. La., Leda, adle, dale, deal, lade

Hungarian

Etymology

le- +? ad

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l??d]
• Hyphenation: le?ad
• Rhymes: -?d

Verb

lead

1. (transitive) to pass down, hand down, turn in, drop off
2. (transitive) to lose weight, usually as a result of some kind of training or exercise

Conjugation

Derived terms

• leadás

(Expressions):

• leadja a voksát

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *laud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læ???d/

Noun

l?ad n

1. lead

Declension

Derived terms

• l?eden

Descendants

• Middle English: led, lede, lead, leyd, leod, leyt
  • English: lead
  • Scots: leid, lede
  • Yola: leed

Polish

Etymology

From English lead.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?it/

Noun

lead m inan

1. (newspapers, journalism) lead paragraph, teaser, lead-in (start of a newspaper column, telling who, what, when, where, why and how)

Declension

Further reading

• lead in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• lead in Polish dictionaries at PWN