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lees |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Lee \Lee\, n.; pl {Lees} (l[=e]z). [F. lie, perh. fr L. levare to lift up raise. Cf {Lever}.] That which settles at the bottom, as of a cask of liquor (esp. wine); sediment; dregs; -- used now only in the plural. [Lees occurs also as a form of the singular.] ``The lees of wine.'' --Holland. A thousand demons lurk within the lee. --Young. The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Lees \Lees\ (l[=e]s), n. A leash. [Obs.] --Chaucer. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Lees \Lees\ (l[=e]z), n. pl Dregs. See 2d {Lee}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: lees n : the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Lees (Heb. shemarim), from a word meaning to keep or preserve. It was applied to lees" from the custom of allowing wine to stand on the lees that it might thereby be better preserved (Isa. 25:6). "Men settled on their lees" (Zeph. 1:12) are men "hardened or crusted." The image is derived from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed (Jer. 48:11). The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease on the ungodly is hardening. They become stupidly secure (comp. Ps 55:19; Amos 6:1). To drink the lees (Ps. 75:8) denotes severe suffering.
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