- lunarscape n. 1. A picture or other representation of the moon's surface. 2. A
landscape reminiscent of the moon's surface: The sandstone formations
transformed the land into a barren lunarscape.
- lunate or lunated adj. Shaped like a crescent.
- luncheon meat n. Processed, prepackaged meat, often molded into a loaf and
served sliced for use in sandwiches or salads. AC lunch-meat.
- lunker n. Informal Something, especially a game fish, that is large for its
kind.
- lunula n. A small crescent-shaped structure or marking, especially the white
area at the base of a fingernail that resembles a half-moon.
- lupine1 also lupin n. Any of numerous plants of the genus Lupinus in the pea
family, having palmately compounded leaves and variously colored flowers
grouped in spikes or racemes.
- lupine2 adj. 1. Characteristic of or resembling a wolf. 2. Rapacious;
ravenous.
- lurch2 n. The losing position of a cribbage player who scores 30 points or
less to the winner's 61. --idiom: in the lurch In a difficult or embarrassing
position.
- lute1 n. A stringed instrument having a body shaped like a pear sliced
lengthwise and a neck with a fretted fingerboard that is usually bent just
below the tuning pegs.
- lute2 n. A substance, such as dried clay or cement, used to pack and seal pipe
joints and other connections or coat a porous surface in order to make it tight.
Also called luting.
- lutefisk n. A traditional Scandinavian dish prepared by soaking air-dried cod
in a lye solution for several weeks before skinning, boning, and boiling it, a
process that gives the dish its characteristic gelatinous consistency.
- Luther, Martin 1483-1546.
- luxe n. 1. The condition of being elegantly sumptuous. 2. something luxurious;
a luxury.
- lycanthrope n. 1. A werewolf. 2. A person affected with lycanthropy.
- lycanthropy n. 1. In folklore, the magical ability to assume the form and
characterstics of a wolf. 2. A delusion that one has become or assumed the
characteristics of another animal.
- Lycra A trademark used for a brand of spandex.
- lynch tr.v. To execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a
mob. [Short for Lynch Law]
> What started as an honorable vigilante justice led by William Lynch
> (1742-1820) for the lack of law enforcement is remembered today by its
> disgraceful extreme.
- lyonnaise adj. Cooked with onions: lyonnaise potatoes; potatoes lyonnaise.
- lysis n. 1. Biochemistry The dissolution or destruction of cells, such as
blood cells or bacteria, as by the action of a specific lysin that disrupts
the cell membrane. 2. Medicine The gradual subsiding of the symptoms of an
acute disease.
- macabre adj. 1. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome: macabre
tales of war and plague in the Middle Ages. 2. Constituting or including a
representation of death.
- macadam n. Pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually
bound with tar or asphalt. [After John McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish civil
engineer.]
- Maccabees1 A family of Juewish patriots of the second and first centuries B.C.,
active in the liberation of Judea from Syrian rule.
- machinate v. --tr. To devise (a plot). --intr. To engage in plotting.
- machination n. 1. The act of plotting. 2. A crafty scheme or cunning design
for the accomplishment of a sinister end.
