LEE  . (I) (In O . Eng. hleo; cf. the

pronunciation Cew-ward of " leeward "; the word appears in several Teutonic languages; cf . Dutch lij, Dan. lac), properly a shelter or protection, chiefly used as a nautical term for that side of a ship, land, &c., which is farthest from the wind, hence a " lee shore," land under the lee of a ship, i.e. one on which the wind blows directly and which is unsheltered . A ship is said to make " leeway " when she drifts laterally away from her course . (2) A word now always used in the plural " lees," meaning dregs, sediment, particularly of wine . It comes through the O . Fr. lie from a Gaulish Lat. lia, and is probably of Celtic origin .