U.S. Also 9 levy. [ad. F. levée, fem. of levé, pa. pple. of lever to raise.]
1. An embankment to prevent the overflow of a river.
1718–20. Dumont, Plan N. Orleans, in J. Winsor, Mississ. Basin (1895), 151.
1770. P. Pittman, Europ. Settlem. Mississ., 10. The town [New Orleans] is secured from the inundations of the river by a raised bank, generally called the Levée.
1812. J. Cutler, Topogr. Descr. Ohio, 90. Here commences the embankment or Levee, on the western side of the river.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, i. (1862), 6. Broad fields of sugar cane … came down to the narrow levee which protects them from the floods.
1883. Encycl. Amer., I. 197/1. The levee—or levy, as it is often written—is the name of the embankment itself.
1895. J. Winsor, Mississ. Basin, 158. Perier had completed his levee along the river.
attrib. 1877. Burroughs, Taxation, 29. A levee tax was laid.
2. A landing-place, pier, quay.
1842. H. Caswall, City of Mormons, 3. The landing-place (or levée, as it is denominated).
attrib. 1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Levee-dues, shipping or landing dues paid at a levee.
