# leading
## English
### Etymology 1

From Middle English ledinge, ledynge, ledand, ledande, ledende, from Old English lǣdende, from Proto-West Germanic *laidijandī, from Proto-Germanic *laidijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to lead”), equivalent to lead +‎ -ing. Compare West Frisian liedend, Dutch leidend, German leitend, Swedish ledande, Icelandic leiðandi.

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈliːdɪŋ/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈlidɪŋ/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːdɪŋ
* Hyphenation: lead‧ing

#### Verb

leading
* present participle and gerund of lead
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.

#### Adjective

leading (not comparable)
* Providing guidance or direction.
    Avoid leading questions if you really want the truth.
* Ranking first.
    He is a leading supplier of plumbing supplies in the county.
* Occurring in advance; preceding.
    Antonyms: following, lagging, trailing
    The stock market can be a leading economic indicator.

##### Coordinate terms

* (occurring in advance): concurrent, lagging

##### Derived terms

* leading indicator
* leading woman

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English leding, ledyng, ledinge, ledunge, equivalent to lead +‎ -ing. Cognate with Dutch leiding (“conduit, leading, guidance, leadership”), German Leitung (“line, conduit, cable”).

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈliːdɪŋ/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈlidɪŋ/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːdɪŋ
* Hyphenation: lead‧ing

#### Noun

leading (plural leadings)
* An act by which one is led or guided.
** 1792, William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the‎:It has been said that we ought not to force our way, but to wait for the openings, and leadings of Providence; but it might with equal propriety be answered in this case, neither ought we to neglect embracing those openings in providence which daily present themselves to us.
** 1892, Walt Whitman, “A Song for Occupations”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, page 175:I do not affirm that what you see beyond is futile, I do not advise you to stop, / I do not say leadings you thought great are not great, / But I say that none lead to greater than these lead to.
** 1904, Edward Dowden, Robert Browning‎:In his poetic method each writer followed the leadings of his own genius, without reference to common rules and standards; the individualism of the Revolutionary epoch asserted itself to the full.
* (archaic) Command of an army or military unit.
** c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:Art thou but Captaine of a thouſand horſe, That by Characters grauen in thy browes, And by thy martiall face and ſtout aſpect, Deſeru’ſt to haue the leading of an hoſte?

### Etymology 3

From Middle English leedynge, equivalent to lead (chemical element) +‎ -ing; so named because in metal typesetting (letterpress and hot metal typesetting), pieces of lead (slugs, strips, blocks, etc) were often the mechanical means of producing the gap.

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈlɛdɪŋ/
* Rhymes: -ɛdɪŋ
* Hyphenation: lead‧ing

#### Noun

leading (uncountable)
* (typography) Vertical space added between lines; line spacing.
    Hypernym: white space

##### Translations
### Further reading

* leading on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* Negidal, adeling, aligned, dealign, dealing, diangle, lagenid, leidang