Levee

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
levee
    n 1: a formal reception of visitors or guests (as at a royal
         court)
    2: a pier that provides a landing place on a river
    3: an embankment that is built in order to prevent a river from
       overflowing
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Levee \Lev"ee\ (l[e^]v"[-e]; often l[e^]v*[=e]" in U. S.), n.
   [F. lever, fr. lever to raise, se lever to rise. See {Lever},
   n.]
   1. The act of rising. " The sun's levee." --Gray.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A morning assembly or reception of visitors, -- in
      distinction from a {soir['e]e}, or evening assembly; a
      {matin['e]e}; hence, also, any general or somewhat
      miscellaneous gathering of guests, whether in the daytime
      or evening; as, the president's levee.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In England a ceremonious day reception, when attended
         by both ladies and gentlemen, is called a
         {drawing-room}.
         [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Levee \Lev"ee\, v. t.
   To attend the levee or levees of.
   [1913 Webster]

         He levees all the great.                 --Young.
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Levee \Lev"ee\, n. [F. lev['e]e, fr. lever to raise. See
   {Lever}, and cf. {Levy}.]
   An embankment to prevent inundation; as, the levees along the
   Mississippi; sometimes, the steep bank of a river. [U. S.]
   [1913 Webster]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Levee \Lev"ee\, v. t.
   To keep within a channel by means of levees; as, to levee a
   river. [U. S.]
   [1913 Webster]
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
112 Moby Thesaurus words for "levee":
      affair, arch dam, assemblee, assembly, assignation, at home,
      backstop, ball, bamboo curtain, bank, bar, barrage, barrier,
      bear-trap dam, beaver dam, berth, boom, brawl, breakwater,
      breastwork, brick wall, buffer, bulkhead, bulwark, caucus,
      cofferdam, colloquium, commission, committee, conclave, concourse,
      congregation, congress, conventicle, convention, convocation,
      council, dam, dance, date, defense, diet, dike, ditch, dock,
      earthwork, eisteddfod, embankment, fence, festivity, fete,
      forgathering, forum, gate, gathering, get-together, gravity dam,
      groin, housewarming, hydraulic-fill dam, iron curtain, jam, jetty,
      leaping weir, logjam, matinee, meet, meeting, milldam, moat, mole,
      mound, panel, parapet, party, plenum, portcullis, prom, quay,
      quorum, rally, rampart, reception, rendezvous, reunion, roadblock,
      rock-fill dam, salon, seance, seawall, session, shindig,
      shutter dam, sit-in, sitting, slip, sociable, social,
      social affair, social gathering, soiree, stews, stone wall,
      symposium, synod, tenderloin, turnout, wake, wall, weir,
      wicket dam, work

    

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