Levant
[lɪ'vænt]
Definition
(noun.) the former name for the geographical area of the eastern Mediterranean that is now occupied by Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.
(noun.) a heavy morocco often used in bookbinding.
(verb.) run off without paying a debt.
Edited by Hardy--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Rising or having risen from rest; -- said of cattle. See Couchant and levant, under Couchant.
(n.) The countries washed by the eastern part of the Mediterranean and its contiguous waters.
(n.) A levanter (the wind so called).
(a.) Eastern.
(v. i.) To run away from one's debts; to decamp.
Editor: Tess
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. The East, Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean.
Typist: Lycurgus
Definition
n. the point where the sun rises: the East: the coasts of the Mediterranean east of Italy.—adj. Lev′ant or Lē′vant eastern.—n. Levant′er a strong easterly wind in the Levant.—adj. Levant′ine belonging to the Levant.
v.i. to decamp.—n. Levant′er one who runs away dishonourably who dodges paying his bets &c.
Editor: Natasha
Examples
- I think I could get the assistant editorship of the Levant Herald, but I am going to try to worry along without it. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- When the Venetian manufacture was first established, the materials were all brought from Sicily and the Levant. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Figs, particularly dried figs, form an important article of food in the countries of the Levant, and are exported in large quantities to America and Europe. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Alcibiades knows all the scum of the Levant, and I have no doubt can get a few hundred scamps together. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I have not thwarted your plans, because, as far as I can see, they are innocent, but if you induce Maurice to go to the Levant— Well? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The very scum of the Levant. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I've been in the Levant, where some of your Middlemarch goods go--and then, again, in the Baltic. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Checked by Freda