# lever
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈliː.və/,
    Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
    Hyphenation: le‧ver
* (General American) IPA: /ˈlɛv.ɚ/, /ˈliː.vɚ/,
    Audio (General American):(file)
    Hyphenation: lev‧er, le‧ver
* (Canada) IPA: /ˈliː.vɚ/
* Rhymes: -iːvə(ɹ), -ɛvə(ɹ)
* Homophones: leaver, Lever

### Etymology 1

From Middle English lever, levore, levour, from Old French leveor, leveur (“a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)”), from Latin levātor (“a lifter”), from levō (“to raise”). Doublet of levator.

#### Noun

lever (plural levers)
* (mechanics) A rigid piece which is capable of turning about one point, or axis (the fulcrum), and in which are two or more other points where forces are applied; — used for transmitting and modifying force and motion.
** Specifically, a bar of metal, wood or other rigid substance, used to exert a pressure, or sustain a weight, at one point of its length, by receiving a force or power at a second, and turning at a third on a fixed point called a fulcrum. It is usually named as the first of the six mechanical powers, and is of three kinds, according as either the fulcrum F, the weight W, or the power P, respectively, is situated between the other two, as in the figures.
*** 1952 September, “Modernised Pull-and-Push Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 617:Retractable steps and handrails are provided on each side of the cars. The steps, which are under the control of the guard, are operated by hand levers in the entrance vestibule.
* A small such piece to trigger or control a mechanical device (like a switch or a button).
* (mechanics) A bar, as a capstan bar, applied to a rotatory piece to turn it.
** 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
* (mechanics) An arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it.
* (obsolete, except in generalized senses below) A crowbar.
** 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.1:My lord, I brained him with a lever my neighbour lent me, and he stood by and cried, ‘Strike home, old boy!’

##### Derived terms

* back lever
* beer lever
* front lever
* lever action
* lever arm
* lever shears
* pull a lever
* ratchet lever
* reversing lever
* shift lever
* side-lever
* tuning lever

##### Related terms

* levant, Levant
* levator (doublet)
* alleviate
* elevator, elevate
* leaven
* levitator, levitate

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

lever (third-person singular simple present levers, present participle levering, simple past and past participle levered)
* (transitive) To move with a lever.
    With great effort and a big crowbar I managed to lever the beam off the floor.
** 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VII, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:Someone found a pick and levered a burst plank out of the floor, and in a few minutes we had got a fire alight and our drenched clothes were steaming.
* (figuratively, transitive) To use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).
** 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150:Sullen now, with stultified spleen, Mrs Dibble grappled her crutches and levered herself upright after an ungainly struggle.
** 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 1:Suddenly he had levered himself up from the sofa, rocking the lame man violently, and was walking towards the receptionist.
** 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:The guard at the door coughed up blood, and died instantly. Fina was carrying an empty rifle with a sharpened bayonet, and she'd thrust it straight up through his neck, severing the spinal cord. She levered him off the front stoop and into the bushes, then stood up on the tips of her toes to peer through the window in the door.
* (figuratively, transitive) To use (something) like a lever (in an abstract sense).
** 2001 April 9, Joshua Cooper Ramo, “Bagging the Butcher”, in Time:He was a man who levered his way from small-time communist hack to political power by tapping into the most potent vein of historical juice in the Balkans: nationalism.
** 2013 December 8, Robert McCrum, “Biographies of the year — review”, in The Guardian:Credited with pioneering the detective novel, Collins has attracted many biographers over the years, drawn to his extraordinary life and work in the hope of levering open a new understanding of the Victorian psyche.
* (chiefly UK, finance) To increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.
** 1989 June 26, “Corporate America wants its privacy”, in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:"The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,

##### Derived terms

* compound lever
* gear lever
* leverage
* lever escapement
* lever frame
* lever jack
* lever watch
* thrust lever
* tire lever, tyre lever
* universal lever

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English lever, comparative of leve, leef (“dear, beloved, lief”), equivalent to lief +‎ -er. Related to German lieber (“rather”).

#### Alternative forms

* liever

#### Adverb

lever (not comparable)
* (obsolete) Rather.
** [1531, William Tyndale, transl.], The prophete Ionas […], [Antwerp: Merten de Keyser], chapter iiij:[3]:Now therfore take my life from me / for I had leuer dye then liue.
** [1545?], John Heywood, The Playe Called The Foure PP […], London: […] Wyllyam Myddylton, →OCLC; reprinted as John S. Farmer, editor, The Play Called The Four PP […] (The Tudor Facsimile Texts), London; Edinburgh: […] T. C. & E. C. Jack, […], 1908, →OCLC, signature [E.ii.], verso:The wolde ſome mayſter perhappes clowt ye / But as for me ye nede nat doute ye / For I had leuer be without ye / Then haue ſuche beſyneſſe aboute ye.
** 1571, John Calvin, “Iohn Calvin to the Godly Readers Sendeth Greeting”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part:For although they were worthy of any puniſhment: yit had I leuer they might haue flooriſhed in welfare and ſafetie: […]
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 128:For leuer had I die, then ſee his deadly face.

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

Borrowed from French lever.

#### Noun

lever (plural levers)
* (rare) A levee.
** 1742, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Delany's Letters, II.191:We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.
** 2011 September 21, Tim Blanning, “The reinvention of the night”, in Times Literary Supplement:Louis XIV’s day began with a lever at 9 and ended (officially) at around midnight.

### Further reading

* “lever”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “lever”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### References

* ↑ “lever”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* ↑ “lever”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ “lever”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

### Anagrams

* Revel, elver, revel

## Danish
### Etymology 1

From Old Danish liuær, from Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, cognate with English liver and German Leber. The Germanic word may be an irregular remodelling of the Proto-Indo-European word for "liver", *yókʷr̥, cf. Ancient Greek ἧπαρ (hêpar) and Latin iecur.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈlewˀɐ]

#### Noun

lever c (singular definite leveren, plural indefinite levere)
* liver

##### Inflection
### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈleːʋɐ], [ˈleːwɐ]

#### Verb

lever
* present of leve

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [leˈʋeɐ̯ˀ]

#### Verb

lever or levér
* imperative of levere

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈleːvər/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: le‧ver
* Rhymes: -eːvər

### Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-West Germanic *libru, from Proto-Germanic *librō.

#### Noun

lever f (plural levers, diminutive levertje n)
* liver
* edible animal liver as a dish or culinary ingredient

##### Derived terms

* ganzenlever
* kalfslever
* kippenlever
* leverbloem
* leverbotziekte
* leverextract
* leverkaas
* leverkleurig
* leverkruid
* leverpastei
* levertraan
* levertumor
* leverworst
* leverziekte
* rundslever
* varkenslever

##### Descendants

* Afrikaans: lewer
* Berbice Creole Dutch: lefre
* Negerhollands: leber
* → Aukan: lebii
* → Indonesian: lever
* → Saramaccan: lebèn
* → Sranan Tongo: lefre
** → Caribbean Javanese: léfer

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

lever
* inflection of leveren:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle French lever, from Old French lever, from Latin levāre (“to lift; to lighten, relieve”), from levis (“light, not heavy”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lə.ve/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: levai, levé, levée, levées, levés, levez

### Verb

lever
* (transitive) to raise, lift
    Antonym: baisser
* (reflexive) to rise, stand up
    Antonym: s’abaisser
* (reflexive, of celestial bodies) to rise, come up
    Antonym: se coucher
    Le Soleil se lève à l’est et se couche à l’ouest. ― The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
* (reflexive) to get up (out of bed)
    Antonyms: se coucher, s’allonger
    Je me lève, je me lave. ― I get up, I wash.
* (reflexive, of fog, rain, etc.) to clear, lift

#### Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il lève and the third-person singular future indicative il lèvera.

#### Derived terms

* au pied levé
* levage
* levant
* Levant
* Levantin
* lève-Dieu
* lève-tard
* levée
* lever du soleil
* lever le camp
* lever le petit doigt
* lever le pied
* lever le voile
* lever les yeux au ciel
* lever l’ancre
* lever un lièvre
* leveur
* levure
* l’avenir appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt
* se lever
* se lever du mauvais pied
* se lever du pied gauche
* vote à main levée

### Noun

lever m (plural levers)
* the act of getting up in the morning

### Further reading

* “lever”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* lèvre

## Hungarian
### Etymology

le- +‎ ver

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈlɛvɛr]
* Hyphenation: le‧ver
* Rhymes: -ɛr

### Verb

lever
* (transitive) to knock down

#### Derived terms

* leverés

### Further reading

* lever in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

## Indonesian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈlɛvər]
* Hyphenation: lè‧vêr

### Etymology 1

From Dutch lever (“liver”), from Middle Dutch lēvere, from Old Dutch *levara, from Proto-Germanic *librō.

#### Alternative forms

* liver

#### Noun

lèvêr (plural lever-lever)
* liver
    Synonym: hati

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Dutch leveren (“to deliver”), from Middle Dutch leveren, from Old French livrer.

#### Noun

lever (active melever, passive dilever, perfective passive terlever)
* (colloquial, uncommon) to send goods; to deliver

### Further reading

* “lever” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Latin
### Verb

lēver
* first-person singular present passive subjunctive of lēvō

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

Comparative of leve (“dear”) of Germanic origin (compare German lieb) or lief.

#### Adverb

lever
* Rather.
    For him was lever have at his bed's head Twenty bookes, clad in black or red, . . . Than robes rich, or fithel, or gay sawtrie. —The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
    But lever than this worldés good She would have wist how that it stood —Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, John Gower.

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

lever
* Alternative form of lyvere (“liver”)

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

lever
* Alternative form of lyvere (“living being”)

## Middle French
### Etymology

From Old French lever.

### Verb

lever
* to lift

#### Conjugation

* Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

#### Descendants

* French: lever

### References

* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (lever, supplement)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smudge, stick”), from *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”).

#### Noun

lever m or f (definite singular leveren or levra, indefinite plural levere or levre or levrer, definite plural leverne or levrene)
* (anatomy) a liver
* liver (eaten as food)

##### Derived terms

* skrumplever

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

lever
* present tense of leve
* imperative of levere

### References

* “lever” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smudge, stick”), from *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”). Akin to English liver.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈleʋːər/

#### Noun

lever f (definite singular levra, indefinite plural levrar or levrer, definite plural levrane or levrene)
* (anatomy) a liver
* liver (eaten as food)

##### Alternative forms

* livr (superseded)

##### Derived terms

* skrumplever

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /²leːʋɛr/

#### Verb

lever
* present of leve

### Further reading

* “lever” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Etymology

From Latin lēvāre.

### Verb

lever
* to lift (up)
* (reflexive, se lever) to get up (get out of bed)

#### Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-v, *-vs, *-vt are modified to f, s, t. This verb has a stressed present stem liev distinct from the unstressed stem lev. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

#### Descendants

* Middle French: lever
** French: lever

## Old Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse hleifr, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz.

### Noun

lēver m
* loaf, bread

#### Descendants

* Swedish: lev

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse lifr, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smudge, stick”), from *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”).

#### Noun

lever c
* (anatomy) liver

##### Derived terms

* anklever
* blodlever
* fettlever
* fiskleverolja
* gåslever
* hetlevrad
* kalvlever
* kycklinglever
* levercancer
* levercell
* levercirros
* leverfläck
* leverinflammation
* leverpastej
* leverskrumpning
* leversvikt
* levertransplantation
* skrumplever
* torskleverolja

##### Related terms

* levra (“clot, coagulate”)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

lever
* present indicative of leva

### References

* lever in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* lever in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* lever in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* Svensk MeSH