I. le·vee ˈlevē, -vi; ləˈvē, -ˈvā noun
( -s )
Etymology: French lever, from Middle French, action of rising from bed, from lever to rise from bed, raise, from Latin levare to raise
1.
a. : a reception held by a person of distinction on rising from bed
the Sun King had one nobleman to hand him his stockings, another his shirt, in his morning levee — Saul Bellow
b. Britain : an afternoon assembly at which the king or his representative receives only men
c. : a fashionable party or reception usually in honor of a particular person
the years of levees and parades and other suave peacetime occasions — Gladys B. Stern
young ladies who were invited to levees, as the college receptions were then called — Mary A. Allen
they were dressed as if for a levee — A.J.Liebling
2. archaic : the act or action of arising from or as if from bed
the sun's levee — Thomas Gray
3. obsolete : the guests gathered at a levee
II. levee transitive verb
( leveed ; leveed ; leveeing ; levees )
obsolete : to court (the great or powerful) by attending or seeking entry to levees
III. lev·ee ˈlevē, -vi noun
( -s )
Etymology: French levée, from Middle French levee levee, action of raising, from Old French, action of raising, from feminine of levé, past participle of lever to raise
1.
a. : an embankment designed to prevent flooding
the Mississippi river levees have often had to be sandbagged
b. : a river landing place : pier , quay
2. : a small continuous dike or ridge of earth for confining the irrigation checks of land to be flooded
3. : the very low ridge sometimes built up by streams on their floodplains on either side of their channels
4. : a red-light district especially in Chicago
Synonyms: see wharf
IV. levee transitive verb
( leveed ; leveed ; leveeing ; levees )
: to provide with a levee
leveed the stream channel
leveed banks