Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
LEE
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
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.