levee

See also: levée and lévée

English

Alternative forms

• levée (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛvi/, /ˈlɛv.eɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvi, -ɛveɪ
• Homophone: levy (some pronunciations only)
• (US) enPR: lev'i, IPA^(key): /ˈlɛvi/, /ləˈvi/, /ləˈveɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɛvi
• Homophones: levy, Levy

Etymology 1

From French levée, from lever (“to raise, rise”).

levee

Noun

levee (plural levees)

1. An elevated geographical feature.
2. An embankment to prevent inundation; as, the levees along the Mississippi.
3. (US) The steep bank of a river.
4. (US) The border of an irrigated field.
5. (US) A pier or other landing place on a river.

Synonyms

• (embankment): dike, floodwall

Translations

embankment to prevent inundation

• Bulgarian: насип (bg) m (nasip), дига (bg) f (diga)
• Catalan: mota (ca) f, cavalló (ca) m
• Czech: hrázka
• Danish: floddige n
• Esperanto: digo
• Finnish: tulvapato
• French: digue (fr) f
• German: Deich (de) m, Damm (de)
• Hungarian: töltés (hu), védőgát (hu), gát (hu), árvízvédelmi töltés/gát
• Macedonian: насип m (nasip)
• Maori: tupehau
• Polish: grobla (pl) f
• Portuguese: encosta (pt), dique (pt) m
• Russian: да́мба (ru) f (dámba), на́сыпь (ru) f (násypʹ)
• Slovene: nasip m
• Spanish: malecón (es) m, dique (es) m
• Thai: คันดิน (kan-din)

steep bank of a river

• German: Uferböschung (de) f

Verb

levee (third-person singular simple present levees, present participle leveeing, simple past and past participle leveed)

1. (US, transitive) To keep within a channel by means of levees.

   to levee a river

Translations

to levee a river

• Finnish: padota (fi), rakentaa rantavalli
• German: eindeichen (de)

Etymology 2

From French levé variant of the noun lever (“the act of getting up in the morning”).

Noun

levee (plural levees)

1. (obsolete) The act of rising; getting up, especially in the morning after rest.
   • c. 1763, Thomas Gray, letter to Mr. Nichols

     And look before you were up in the morning, though you were a punctual courtier at the sun's levee

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 414:

     The sturdy hind now attends the levee of his fellow-labourer the ox […]

2. A reception of visitors held after getting up.
3. A formal reception, especially one given by royalty or other leaders.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 179:

     I must take my leave, for the Cardinal holds a levee to-day, and let those fail in attendance who want nothing.

   • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety‎^[1], published 1993, →ISBN, page 195:

     At the King's levee on the morning of the 13th, Philippe was first ignored; then asked by His Majesty (rudely) what he wanted; then told, ‘Get back where you came from.’

Verb

levee (third-person singular simple present levees, present participle leveeing, simple past and past participle leveed)

1. (transitive) To attend the levee or levees of.
   • 1725–1728, [Edward Young], “(please specify the page)”, in Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. In Seven Characteristical Satires, 4th edition, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson […], published 1741, →OCLC:

     He levees all the great.

Anagrams

• eleve, leeve

Old French

Verb

levee

1. feminine singular of the past participle of lever