leagues

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of league.

   The two youth leagues merged to form a single regional competition.

   The map marked the distance to the harbor in leagues rather than miles.

   Note

   One plural spelling serves a crowd of meanings: alliances and associations, sports competitions, classes of evenly matched people or things, and even the prefecture-level units of Inner Mongolia. The informal clipping for rugby league is the exception. It is uncountable, so leagues never refers to that sport: a fan follows league, not leagues.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of league.

   Whenever danger threatens, the chieftain leagues with neighboring clans for protection.

   The smaller party regularly leagues itself with whichever faction holds power.

   Note

   Behind the form is a verb of uniting for mutual support, and it works with or without an object: a ruler leagues with neighbors, or leagues himself with them. Because the same spelling is the plural noun, position tells them apart. After a determiner (the leagues) it is the noun; after a singular subject it is the verb.

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