leaguer · noun — A siege. It carries an Arena rating of 1550, earned across 43 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, leaguer ranks #3,057 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,033 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words, #4,914 of 17,167 for Most Vivid Words, #5,450 of 17,163 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “leaguer” is a great word
LEAGUER — [Noun, Verb] As a noun: a siege, or specifically the encampment of a besieging army; as a verb: to besiege, or to set up such a camp. From Dutch 'leger' ("army, camp"), from Proto-Germanic *legrą ("bed, camp"). Doublet of 'lair'. Unlike 'siege', which names the active operation of surrounding a place, or 'beleaguer', which implies persistent harassment, 'leaguer' holds the static image of the camp itself—the settled weight of an impending storm. It is the forest of tents appearing overnight, the stink of latrine trenches cutting through the mist, and the patient ring of cooking fires on a besieged plain—the transformation of strategy into a mundane, occupied geography where time becomes the primary weapon.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Dutch leger (“army”), itself derived from Proto-Germanic *legrą. Doublet of lair.
noun
- A siege.e.g.“We must break the leaguer of the city.”
- The camp of a besieging army; a camp in general.e.g.“Your sutler's wife in the leaguer, of two blanks” — 1616, Ben Jonson, The Devil Is an Ass:
- A person in a league.e.g.“I'm not a major-leaguer; I just play baseball.”
- A measure of liquid.e.g.“Excise duty had to be paid on each leaguer of brandy exported.” — 1794, Cape of Good Hope:
verb
- To set up camp.e.g.“So we leaguer here, get some sleep pray God, we had damn all last night, everyone doing repairs till all hours...” — 1987, Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger:
- To beleaguer; to besiege.e.g.“Looking up suddenly, I found mine eyes / Confronted with the minster's vast repose. / Silent and gray as forest-leaguered cliff / Left inland by the ocean's slow retreat, […]” — 1869 December (indicated as 1870 January), James Russell Lowell, “The Cathedral”, in James Thomas Fields, editor, The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXV
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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