Leg
Vertical support.

Leg of a Fillet Weld
Legs of a triangle, which is formed when a weld is done at the intersection of materials to form a 90-degree angle. Two legs join for the right angle and the weld forms the side of the right-angled triangle that is opposite the right angle.

Legacy
A gift by will. Something handed down by an ancestor.

Legal Age
The official standard of maturity upon which one is held legally responsible for one's acts. Contracts for the sale or lease of real estate and negotiating business agreements. In most states the age is 18.

Legal Blemish
Problem with a piece of property such as a title claim or zoning violation.

Legal Description
A legally acceptable description of real estate including metes and bounds, government rectangular survey, or lot numbers of a recorded plat. All property deeds have a legal description.

Legal Name
The name one has for official purposes, usually the first and last name given at birth and which must be used to sign documents, deeds or contracts.

Legal Notice
Notification of others using the method required by law, which can include a registered letter, advertisement in a designated newspaper, telegram or other methods.

Legal Residence
Normally, one's permanent home.

Legal Title
A collection of rights of ownership that are defined or recognized by law or that could be successfully defended in a court of law.

Legatee
Person who receives a legacy from a will.

Lender
The loaner of money, at a particular interest rate, which can be a mortgage company, bank, private person, etc.

Lender Participation
Mortgage that allows the lender to share in part of the income or resale proceeds. Also referred to as Participation Mortgage.

Lending Agreement
Contract in which a borrower agrees to terms of a loan, which include payment dates, interest rate, total cost of the loan and late payment fees.

Length
A unit of measure consisting of the linear dimension of an object.

Lens
A piece of glass or transparent material with two curved surfaces, or one plane and one curved, regularly bringing together or spreading rays of light passing through it, to provide focus or magnification.

Lessee
The person to whom a property is rented under a lease. A tenant.

Lessor
The person who rents the property to another under a lease. A landlord.

Let
To rent a property to a tenant. Alternately, awarding of a contract to the bidder for the property with the best offer.

Let-in
Meeting place where and object fits into another, which has been notched to receive it so that it lays flush with the surface.

Letter of Atornment
Letter outlining a tenant's formal agreement to be a tenant of a new landlord.

Letter of Commitment
Official notification to a borrower of the lender's intent to grant a loan, it also specifies the terms of the loan and sets a date for the closing.

Letter of Credit
An arrangement, with specified conditions, where a bank agrees to substitute its credit for a customer's.

Letter of Intent
A written statement, expressing a desire to enter into a contract, without actually doing so.

Lettering Guide
Mechanical drawing implement with holes or slots used as a guide for lettering or for drawing parallel lines.

Levee
An embankment built alongside a river to prevent high water from flooding the surrounding land.

Level
1. A leveling device, containing a glass tube, which is partly filled with liquid that leaves an air bubble in the exact center of the tube when the instrument is on an even horizontal plane.
2. Something relatively flat and even.
3. Conforming to the plane of the horizon, not sloping.

Level, Builder's
Used for verifying elevations and the level of reference points on a job site, a builder's level is comprised of a telescope with a movable mounting ring and a bubble level.

Level, Dumpy
Level that has a telescope and leveling vial mounted on a rotating plate. Sight is taken through the telescope so that the point on the graduated rod that is level to the telescope can be found. The telescope is leveled using the leveling vial and then the crosshairs are lined up to a point on the rod.

Level, Laser
Device consisting of a laser transmitter and a laser receiver on a vertical rod, which has measuring marks along the length of its side.

Level, Optical
Telescope, mounted on a tripod for stability, having cross hairs in the viewer and an ability to rotate 360 degrees.

Level Payment Income Stream
An Annuity. A series of equal or nearly equal periodic payments or receipts.

Level Payment Mortgage
Mortgage where each payment made by the borrower is equal, each period, with every payment comprised of principal and interest.

Level Protractor
Protractor with a level in the center and which rotates on a fixture with a base, to determine the amount of angle deviation from level.

Level Rod
Used along with a transit or builder's level a rod marked with graduated markings is used to measure the differences in elevations. Markings can be had in feet, tenths, hundredths meters, decimeters and centimeters and are in heights up to 25 feet. For greater accuracy, a leveling rod may have a target with markings graduated in one thousandth of a foot on the Vernier scale attached.

Level, String
Level that has hook and is light enough to be attached to the line that stretches between points to be measured.

Level, Transit
Form of builder's level, consisting of a telescope and leveling vial, which can take horizontal and vertical angle measurement, establishing elevations for building sites.

Leveling
Quality in paint that allows the surface to flow freely and to avoid brush marks.

Leveling Bed
Mortar bed with pavers set into it.

Leveling Course
Pavement layer, which is installed so that a level surface is underneath the final pavement course to be laid.

Leveling Rod
Used along with a transit or builder's level a rod marked with graduated markings is used to measure the differences in elevations. Markings can be had in feet, tenths, hundredths meters, decimeters and centimeters and are in heights up to 25 feet. For greater accuracy, a leveling rod may have a target with markings graduated in one thousandth of a foot on the Vernier scale attached.

Leveling Vial
Bubble level, which is part of a transit or dumpy level for surveying.

Lever
1. Rigid bar that is used to move or pry something.
2. Device which has a bar turning around a fixed point, the fulcrum or support, using power or force applied at a second point to lift or sustain a weight at a third point.

Leverage
Use of a small amount of money to purchase a more expensive property. Use of borrowed funds to increase purchasing power.

Levy
1. The imposition or collection, usually by a legal or governmental authority, of that which is due.
2. Amount of money that is certified to be raised from property tax.

Lewis
An attachment for lifting heavy stones, consisting of a sectioned dovetailed iron piece that fits into a dovetail opening in the stone.

Lewis Pin
Metal dowel, which helps to lift a block into position, by being inserted into a hole drilled at a slight angle into the top of the block.