Definition of "leman" []

• Archaic A sweetheart; a lover. (noun)
• Archaic A mistress. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For the truth of the history is, that Master Elisabat, of whom the madman spoke, was very prudent, and a man of a sound judgment, and served the queen as her tutor and physician; but to think that she was his leman is a madness worthy the severest punishment; and to the end thou mayst see that Cardenio knew not what he said, thou must understand that when he spoke it he then was wholly beside himself."
• "In fact, the female next to whom she had sat on the previous day had refused to share a seat with "a gen'leman's bit o 'fluff.""
• "Tom! "he called," yo 'take the gen'leman's horse to the stable, rub him down with a wisp, an' give him some hay."