- lead (v.)
- "to guide," O.E. lędan "cause to go with one, lead," causative of lišan "to travel," from W.Gmc. *laithjan (cf. O.S. lithan, O.N. liša "to go," O.H.G. ga-lidan "to travel," Goth. ga-leižan "to go"). Meaning "to be in first place" is from late 14c. The noun is first recorded c.1300, "action of leading." Meaning "the front or leading place" is from 1560s. Johnson stigmatized it as "a low, despicable word." Sense in card-playing is from 1742; in theater, from 1831; in journalism, from 1927; in jazz bands, from 1934.
- lead (n.)
- heavy metal, O.E. lead, from W.Gmc. *loudhom (cf. O.Fris. lad, M.Du. loot "lead," Ger. Lot "weight, plummet"). The name and the skill in using the metal seem to have been borrowed from the Celts (cf. O.Ir. luaide, probably from PIE base *plou(d)- "to flow"). Black lead was an old name for "graphite," hence lead pencil (1680s) and the colloquial figurative phrase to have lead in one's pencil "be possessed of (esp. male sexual) vigor," first attested 1941 in Australian slang. Lead balloon "a failure" is from 1960, Amer.Eng. slang. Lead-footed "slow" is from 1896; opposite sense of "fast" emerged 1940s in trucker's jargon, from notion of a foot heavy on the gas pedal.