lyricist:

(also ‘lyrist’)

{the letter ‘y’ and the two ‘i’ rhyme with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”}

a person who writes  lyrics (words for a song, opera, or a musical play); a song writer

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lutanist:

(also with the spelling ‘lutenist’, and also called ‘lutist’ or ‘lute player’)

{the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letters ‘oo’ in “loot”}

a person/musician who plays a lute, a kind of sting music instrument

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lush:

(the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

{mostly in American English} a person who is drunk; a drunkard

(‘Lush’ in its adjective form is more commonly used to mean ‘having good fresh vegetation – plants, bushes, small trees’; and also to mean ‘plentiful; found in more numbers or quantity.)

{‘Lush’ in the second video you see on the right of this text has nothing to do with drinking, but has something to do with fresh, good, etc.; it is the brand name of several cosmetic things that are mostly made by hand. I just inserted this video for you, as I did with most of the videos in this course, to listen to the pronunciation of the word ‘lush’ and how the word can be used , and, of course, with the belief that there is nothing wrong in knowing a few good products!}

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lunatic fringe:

(the letters ‘lu’ in ‘lunatic’ rhyme with the word “loo”; letter ‘i’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”, and the ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound, as in “king”; and the letter ‘i’ in ‘fringe’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”; the letter ‘g’ rhymes with the letter ‘j’ in “judge”, and the letter ‘e’ is silent)

the wildest people or people with the strangest ideas, beliefs who want to take very serious steps to make changes in a group or society, or in a political party

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lunatic:

(the letters ‘lu’ rhyme with the word “loo”; the letter ‘i’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”; and the letter ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound, as in “king”)

a person who is suffering from illness of the mind; a person who is not right in his mind; a crazy person;

a wildly foolish or careless person (not necessarily mentally ill)

{“Lunatic” is more commonly used as an adjective with such nouns as ‘asylum’ (a hospital for the mentally ill), ‘ideas’ (very strange or different ideas), ‘behaviour’ (the crazy or strange manners a person has), etc.}

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lump:

(apart from several other meanings, especially ‘an irregular shaped solid matter — a chunk’)

{the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”}

a heavy mindless awkward person;

the group of workers in the building industry who are not employed on a permanent contract (not regular workers), but given the work only as and when needed

{Note: “Lump” is also used to refer to a small swelling on one’s body. ‘Bump’, apart from several other meanings including ‘hitting something or running into something’, is used in place of ‘lump’.  A ‘bump’ is a lump that is caused due to some blow, i.e. when a person hits something with his head or somebody hits him on his head, a swelling appears and that swelling is called a ‘bump’ on the head, but when the swelling is caused due to some illness or just grows out of the skin on its own, it is called a ‘lump’.}

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lummox:

{plural: ‘lummoxes’}

(the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

a silly stupid person; a lout; a lubber

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luminary:

{plural: ‘luminaries’}

(the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘oo’ in “loop”)

a famous person; a celebrity;

a person whose mind, learning and actions are right and proper and so are famous and respected and followed by others; a leading light

{‘Luminary’, in its adjective form, and ‘luminous’ are more commonly used to refer to things that shine brightly and the stars in the sky that give out light, and also for great ideas, excellent plans, etc. e.g. “My uncle is one of the luminaries of modern art.”, ” Using luminous paint of light switches is a wise thing; we can see them even when the room is dark.”, “The young art director of our production unit often comes up with luminous ideas.” }

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lumberjack:

{also ‘lumberman’}

(the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

(mostly in American & Canadian English) a man/worker who cuts down trees for wood;

a logger

{‘Lumberjack’ or ‘lumber jacket’ is a outer jacket (a piece of clothing) put on to keep oneself warm.}

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lubricator:

(the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letters ‘oo’ in “loop”; and the letter ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound, as in “king”)

a person or instrument/device that puts oil on the moving parts of some machine in order to make the machine work smoothly and softly;

a person who tries to make things easy for others seeing that everyday matters in an organisation run smoothly and/or tries to make some big problem look less serious, especially when two people, groups, societies, etc., are in disagreement and there is some argument or fight

{‘Lubricator’ is more commonly used for the oils or grease that is put on or in the moving parts of a machine in order to make the machine move smoothly and softly.}

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