leaden meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

leaden

adj

/ˈlɛdən/

Etymology From Middle English leden, leaden, from Old English lēaden (“leaden, of lead”). Cognate with West Frisian leaden (“leaden”), Dutch loden (“leaden”). By surface analysis, lead + -en.

› Of or related to the metal lead, particularly

Archaic Made of lead.

Figuratively Resembling the color of lead, metallic or dark gray; (of daylight) dim, overcast.

The sky was dark and overcast, a leaden pall producing a deep gloom.
It was at the end of February..., when the world was cold..., when icy rains fell from the leaden skies in continual drizzling showers.1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust, page 31 (2001 Perennial paperback edition)

Figuratively Resembling the density of lead, heavy.

Where but to think is to be full of sorrow And leaden-eyed despairs, Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.1819, John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 109:
Which break a teachless nature to the yoke.1818-1819, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Julian and Maddalo … if man be The passive thing you say, I should not see Much harm in the religions and old saws (Tho' I may never own such leaden laws)

Figuratively Resembling the ponderousness of lead, sluggish.

Derived terms: fly with leaden wings, leaden flycatcher, leaden-hearted, leadenly, leadenness, with leaden wings

leaden

verb

Ambitransitive To make or become dull or overcast.