From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishleagueleague /liːɡ/ ●●● W2 noun [countable] 1 DSOa group of sports teams or players who play games against each other to see who is best He makes his football league debut tomorrow. the Rugby League Championshipbe (at the) top/bottom of the league (=be the best or the worst team in a group)2 ORGANIZATIONa group of people or countries who have joined together because they have similar aims, political beliefs etc the National Socialist League3 → not be in the same league (as somebody/something)4 → be in a different league5 → be out of your league6 → be in league (with somebody)7 TMan ancient unit for measuring distance, equal to three miles or about 4,828 metres on land, and three nautical miles or 5,556 metres at sea
Examples from the Corpus
league• Morocco is a member of the Arab League.• the National Football League• Leaders of the Football League met to discuss the problems of violence at football games.• The League of Nations was formed to promote international peace and security.• the League of Women VotersLeague Championship• Constantine still wears the International Hockey League championship ring from that season.• Huddersfield made up for their failure in the Cup by winning the League Championship in the next season, 1923-4.• At a civic reception that evening Chapman announced that the club would not be satisfied until it had won the League Championship.Origin league 1. (1400-1500) French ligue “agreement to act together”, from Old Italian liga, from ligare “to tie”2. (1300-1400) Late Latin leuga 