This week's theme
Words that have many unrelated meanings

This week's words
consonance
levee
prow
rote
loblolly

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(LEV-ee)

MEANING:

noun:
1. An embankment made to prevent flooding.
2. An embankment around a field that is to be irrigated.
3. A landing place; a quay.
4. A formal reception.

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1-3: From French levée, past participle of lever (to raise). Earliest documented use: 1718.
For 4: From French levé, variant of lever (rising from bed), from lever (to rise). Originally, a levee was a meeting held on a royal's rising from bed. Earliest documented use: 1700.

USAGE:

"The tears had broken over the levee of her black lashes now."
Cynthia Robinson; The Barbary Dogs; Minotaur Books; 2011.

"The president and I would like you to be our guest at the levee tonight."
Phyllis Phillips; Memories: The Guardian of the Heart; AuthorHouse; 2013.

See more usage examples of levee in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: