lye

Meanings

1. An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes).
2. Potassium or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda).

1. To treat with lye.

1. Obsolete spelling of lie.

1. Obsolete spelling of lie.
2. A short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding.

1. A suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SO9284).
2. A diminutive of the female given name Lyanna.

Etymology

From Middle English leye, lye, from Old English lēah, lēag (“lye”), from Proto-West Germanic *laugu, from Proto-Germanic *laugō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Loge, Looie (“lye”), Dutch loog (“lye”), German Low German Loge, Loje, Loog (“lye”), German Lauge (“lye”). Compare typologically Ancient Greek ῥύμμα (rhúmma) < ῥύπτω (rhúptō, “to cleanse, to wash”).