levee

• levée (obsolete)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛvi/, /ˈlɛv.eɪ/

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

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

levee

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.

• (embankment): dike, floodwall

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

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

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, 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.’

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.

• eleve, leeve

levee

1. feminine singular of the past participle of lever