league

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
league1

▶noun

• 1 a collection of people, countries, or groups that combine for mutual protection or cooperation.

• 2 a group of sports clubs which play each other over a period for a championship.

• 3 a class or category of quality or excellence: the two men were not in the same league.

▶verb (leagues, leaguing, leagued) join in a league or alliance.

– phrases
in league conspiring with another or others.

– origin ME: via Fr. from Ital. lega, from legare ‘to bind’, from L. ligare.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
league2

▶noun a former measure of distance by land, usually about three miles.

– origin ME: from late L. leuga, leuca, late Gk leugē, or from Provençal lega (mod. Fr. lieue).