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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Leaf \Leaf\ (l[=e]f), n.; pl. {Leaves} (l[=e]vz). [OE. leef,
lef, leaf, AS. le['a]f; akin to S. l[=o]f, OFries. laf, D.
loof foliage, G. laub, OHG. loub leaf, foliage, Icel. lauf,
Sw. l["o]f, Dan. l["o]v, Goth. laufs; cf. Lith. lapas. Cf.
{Lodge}.]
1. (Bot.) A colored, usually green, expansion growing from
the side of a stem or rootstock, in which the sap for the
use of the plant is elaborated under the influence of
light; one of the parts of a plant which collectively
constitute its foliage.
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Note: Such leaves usually consist of a blade, or lamina,
supported upon a leafstalk or petiole, which, continued
through the blade as the midrib, gives off woody ribs
and veins that support the cellular texture. The
petiole has usually some sort of an appendage on each
side of its base, which is called the stipule. The
green parenchyma of the leaf is covered with a thin
epiderm pierced with closable microscopic openings,
known as stomata.
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2. (Bot.) A special organ of vegetation in the form of a
lateral outgrowth from the stem, whether appearing as a
part of the foliage, or as a cotyledon, a scale, a bract,
a spine, or a tendril.
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Note: In this view every part of a plant, except the root and
the stem, is either a leaf, or is composed of leaves
more or less modified and transformed.
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3. Something which is like a leaf in being wide and thin and
having a flat surface, or in being attached to a larger
body by one edge or end; as:
(a) A part of a book or folded sheet containing two pages
upon its opposite sides.
(b) A side, division, or part, that slides or is hinged,
as of window shutters, folding doors, etc.
(c) The movable side of a table.
(d) A very thin plate; as, gold leaf.
(e) A portion of fat lying in a separate fold or layer.
(f) One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.
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{Leaf beetle} (Zool.), any beetle which feeds upon leaves;
esp., any species of the family {Chrysomelid[ae]}, as the
potato beetle and helmet beetle.

{Leaf bridge}, a draw-bridge having a platform or leaf which
swings vertically on hinges.

{Leaf bud} (Bot.), a bud which develops into leaves or a
leafy branch.

{Leaf butterfly} (Zool.), any butterfly which, in the form
and colors of its wings, resembles the leaves of plants
upon which it rests; esp., butterflies of the genus
{Kallima}, found in Southern Asia and the East Indies.

{Leaf crumpler} (Zool.), a small moth ({Phycis indigenella}),
the larva of which feeds upon leaves of the apple tree,
and forms its nest by crumpling and fastening leaves
together in clusters.

{Leaf fat}, the fat which lies in leaves or layers within the
body of an animal.

{Leaf flea} (Zool.), a jumping plant louse of the family
{Psyllid[ae]}.

{Leaf frog} (Zool.), any tree frog of the genus
{Phyllomedusa}.

{Leaf green}.(Bot.) See {Chlorophyll}.

{Leaf hopper} (Zool.), any small jumping hemipterous insect
of the genus {Tettigonia}, and allied genera. They live
upon the leaves and twigs of plants. See {Live hopper}.

{Leaf insect} (Zool.), any one of several genera and species
of orthopterous insects, esp. of the genus {Phyllium}, in
which the wings, and sometimes the legs, resemble leaves
in color and form. They are common in Southern Asia and
the East Indies.

{Leaf lard}, lard from leaf fat. See under {Lard}.

{Leaf louse} (Zool.), an aphid.

{Leaf metal}, metal in thin leaves, as gold, silver, or tin.


{Leaf miner} (Zool.), any one of various small lepidopterous
and dipterous insects, which, in the larval stages, burrow
in and eat the parenchyma of leaves; as, the pear-tree
leaf miner ({Lithocolletis geminatella}).

{Leaf notcher} (Zool.), a pale bluish green beetle ({Artipus
Floridanus}), which, in Florida, eats the edges of the
leaves of orange trees.

{Leaf roller} (Zool.), See {leaf roller} in the vocabulary.


{Leaf scar} (Bot.), the cicatrix on a stem whence a leaf has
fallen.

{Leaf sewer} (Zool.), a tortricid moth, whose caterpillar
makes a nest by rolling up a leaf and fastening the edges
together with silk, as if sewn; esp., {Phoxopteris
nubeculana}, which feeds upon the apple tree.

{Leaf sight}, a hinged sight on a firearm, which can be
raised or folded down.

{Leaf trace} (Bot.), one or more fibrovascular bundles, which
may be traced down an endogenous stem from the base of a
leaf.

{Leaf tier} (Zool.), a tortricid moth whose larva makes a
nest by fastening the edges of a leaf together with silk;
esp., {Teras cinderella}, found on the apple tree.

{Leaf valve}, a valve which moves on a hinge.

{Leaf wasp} (Zool.), a sawfly.

{To turn over a new leaf}, to make a radical change for the
better in one's way of living or doing. [Colloq.]
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They were both determined to turn over a new leaf.
--Richardson.
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Leaf \Leaf\, Leaf out \Leaf out\(l[=e]f), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
{Leafed} (l[=e]ft); p. pr. & vb. n. {Leafing}.]
To shoot out leaves; to produce leaves; to leave; as, the
trees leaf in May. --Sir T. Browne.
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