15,000 words and phrases from more than 50 languages and their

191 libret
letra de cambio [Sp], bill of exchange; bank draft.
lettre [Fr], letter; note; bill. —lettre d'avis, letter of advice: abbr. l.a.
—lettre de cachet, sealed official letter; a royal or arbitrary warrant
of arrest. —lettre de change, bill of exchange. —lettre de créance,
letter of credit; pi credentials. —lettre de crédit, letter of credit:
abbr. 1/cr.
levée en masse [Fr], a gathering (or rising) in a body; general rising.
leve fit quod bene fertur onus [L], lightly lies the load that is cheerfully
borne: Ovid.
lever de rideau [Fr], curtain raiser.
lever de séance [Fr], closing of a meeting.
le véritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon où l'on dîne [Fr], the real
Amphitryon is the Amphitryon where one dines (i.e., the provider
of the feast, whether known or not, is the real host): Molière.
le vrai n'est pas toujours vraisemblable [Fr], truth is not always probable;
truth is stranger than fiction: Boileau.
levraut [Fr], young hare.
lex [L; pi. leges], law. —lex loci, the law of the place. —lex mercatorum
or mercatoria, mercantile law; law merchant. —lex non scripta,
unwritten law; the common law. —lex scripta, written law; statute
law. —lex talionis, the law of retaliation. —lex terrae, the law of the
land: all law.
l'homme n'est ni ange ni bête [Fr], man is neither an angel nor a
beast: Pascal.
l'homme propose, et Dieu dispose [Fr], man proposes, and God disposes.
liaison [Fr], connection; intimacy, esp. an illicit one; mil, the communication
established between units; a linking of operations.
liant [Fr; fern, liante], supple; flexible; complying; affable.
libeccio [It], the southwest wind.
liber [L; pi. libri], book: abbr. L. or lib.
liberamente [It], freely; liberally: music.
liberavi animam meam [L], I have freed (or relieved) my mind.
libertad y orden [Sp], liberty and order: motto of Colombia.
libertas [L], liberty. —libertas et natale solum, liberty and native land.
—libertas in legibus, liberty under the laws. —libertas sub rege pio,
liberty under an upright king.
liberté, égalité, fraternité [Fr], liberty, equality, fraternity (or brotherhood):
rallying cry of the French Revolution.
liberté toute entière [Fr], liberty wholly complete.
liberum arbitrium [L], free will; free choice.
libido [L; pi. libídines], desire; esp., secret desire; sex instinct: psychol.
libraire [Fr], bookseller.
librairie [Fr], bookstore; publishing house.
libret [Fr], booklet; memorandum book; bankbook; also, descriptive
catalogue; theat., words of an opera; book of words.