[f. as prec. + -ER1.]
1. a. An inhabitant of the Levant; = LEVANTINE sb. 1. rare. b. A ship trading to the Levant. rare.
1668. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 211. I herewith enclosed send you the relation of Signor Pietro, as unpolished as the usual styles of the Levanters are.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster Fair, II. xlviii. Then brought him home in hold of stout Levanter.
1893. F. F. Moore, I Forbid Banns (1899), 146. The Levant and the Levanters … are usually in need of cash.
2. A strong and raw easterly wind in the Mediterranean (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867).
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 86. Let them not break prison to burst like a Levanter.
1799. Nelson, 28 Nov., in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), IV. 115. I shall not keep the Perseus by detaining her a moment with this fine Levanter.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, v. We … tumbled down the Mediterranean before a strong Levanter.
1891. Hall Caine, Scapegoat, I. 155. The rippling of the levanter in her hair.
fig. 1831. Blackw. Mag., XXIX. 906. The angry philosopher himself, by a fierce levanter of indignation, [was] driven westwards to America.
1873. F. Hall, Mod. Engl., 334. Such is the procedure, which … has provoked a very levanter of ire and vilification.
