Dictionary

leal en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /liːl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.

Meanings

1. (Scotland) Loyal, honest.
   • We thank you for the pure white fire of his goodness, for the red sword of justice in his hand, for the love he bears his leal people. 2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 706:
   • Mr Toots, like the leal and trusty soul he was, stopped the cabriolet in a twinkling, and told Susan Nipper of his commission, at which she cried more than before. 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:
2. (Scotland) True, genuine.
   • The lealest lover time can show, / Doomed for a lady-love to languish, / Among these solitudes doth go, / A prey to every kind of anguish. 1885, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “In which are Continued the Refinements wherewith Don Quixote Played the Part of a Lover in the Sierra Morena”, in John Ormsby, transl., The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha […] In Four Vols, volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 30:

Forms

Deriveds

unleal · lealness · leally · Land of the Leal