- lunarscape n. 1. A picture or other representation of the moon's surface. 2. A

  landscape reminiscent of the moon's surface: The sandstone formations

  transformed the land into a barren lunarscape.

- lunate or lunated adj. Shaped like a crescent.

- luncheon meat n. Processed, prepackaged meat, often molded into a loaf and

  served sliced for use in sandwiches or salads. AC lunch-meat.

- lunker n. Informal Something, especially a game fish, that is large for its

  kind.

- lunula n. A small crescent-shaped structure or marking, especially the white

  area at the base of a fingernail that resembles a half-moon.

- lupine1 also lupin n. Any of numerous plants of the genus Lupinus in the pea

  family, having palmately compounded leaves and variously colored flowers

  grouped in spikes or racemes.

- lupine2 adj. 1. Characteristic of or resembling a wolf. 2. Rapacious;

  ravenous.

- lurch2 n. The losing position of a cribbage player who scores 30 points or

  less to the winner's 61. --idiom: in the lurch In a difficult or embarrassing

  position.

- lute1 n. A stringed instrument having a body shaped like a pear sliced

  lengthwise and a neck with a fretted fingerboard that is usually bent just

  below the tuning pegs.

- lute2 n. A substance, such as dried clay or cement, used to pack and seal pipe

  joints and other connections or coat a porous surface in order to make it tight.

  Also called luting.

- lutefisk n. A traditional Scandinavian dish prepared by soaking air-dried cod

  in a lye solution for several weeks before skinning, boning, and boiling it, a

  process that gives the dish its characteristic gelatinous consistency.

- Luther, Martin 1483-1546.

- luxe n. 1. The condition of being elegantly sumptuous. 2. something luxurious;

  a luxury.

- lycanthrope n. 1. A werewolf. 2. A person affected with lycanthropy.

- lycanthropy n. 1. In folklore, the magical ability to assume the form and

  characterstics of a wolf. 2. A delusion that one has become or assumed the

  characteristics of another animal.

- Lycra A trademark used for a brand of spandex.

- lynch tr.v. To execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a

  mob. [Short for Lynch Law]

  > What started as an honorable vigilante justice led by William Lynch

  > (1742-1820) for the lack of law enforcement is remembered today by its

  > disgraceful extreme.

- lyonnaise adj. Cooked with onions: lyonnaise potatoes; potatoes lyonnaise.

- lysis n. 1. Biochemistry The dissolution or destruction of cells, such as

  blood cells or bacteria, as by the action of a specific lysin that disrupts

  the cell membrane. 2. Medicine The gradual subsiding of the symptoms of an

  acute disease.

- macabre adj. 1. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome: macabre

  tales of war and plague in the Middle Ages. 2. Constituting or including a

  representation of death.

- macadam n. Pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually

  bound with tar or asphalt. [After John McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish civil

  engineer.]

- Maccabees1 A family of Juewish patriots of the second and first centuries B.C.,

  active in the liberation of Judea from Syrian rule.

- machinate v. --tr. To devise (a plot). --intr. To engage in plotting.

- machination n. 1. The act of plotting. 2. A crafty scheme or cunning design

  for the accomplishment of a sinister end.