The Oxford English Dictionary. " L—Lap." By Henry Bradley, MA, (Clarendon
Press. 2s. 6d.)—With this part begins VoL VI. It contains more than two thousand words, an unusual number, Sue to the fact that not many are of individual importance. "Lady" occupies as much space as any. With its compounds it fills about four pages. Some of the usages are very curious. A part of the lobster is called "the lady " ; so is the smallest size of roofing slates. "Lady-bird ".(with its remarkable congeners in all European languages), " lady-fowl " (a widgeon), "lady- key" (the primrose), "lady's delight" (the violet), are instances. The word has been adopted as a polite form of address by omnibus conductors to all women passengers. " Lad " is another interesting word. So also is " land "; one of its uses, confined, it would seem, to Scotland, makes it equal to the Latin inside, a group of houses divided into tenements..
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