释义 |
▪ I. levant, n.2|lɪˈvænt| [f. levant v.1] The action of levant v.1; a bet made with the intention of absconding if it is lost. Only in phrases to come the levant, run or throw a levant.
1714T. Lucas Mem. Gamesters (ed. 2) 111 He hath ventur'd to come the Levant over Gintlemen. 1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. i. 17 Throw a familiar Levant upon some sharp lurching Man of Quality. 1731Fielding Lottery iii. Wks. 1882 VIII. 483 Matter! Why, I had a Levant thrown upon me. 1749― Tom Jones viii. xii, Never mind that, man; e'en boldly run a levant. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Levanting or Running a Levant. ▪ II. levant, a. Law.|ˈlɛvənt| [a. F. levant, pr. pple. of lever to raise, refl. to rise.] Only in phrase levant and couchant (= med.L. levans et cubans, in continental as well as Eng. use): lit. ‘rising up and lying down’; said of cattle. (For the specific interpretation see quot. 1768.)
1594West 2nd Pt. Symbol. Chancerie §100 To have common of pasture for their beasts and cattel upon the said lands levant and cowchant at all times of the yeare. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 9 If the lands were not sufficiently fenced so as to keep out cattle, the landlord cannot distrein them, till they have been levant and couchant (levantes et cubantes) on the land; that is, have been long enough there to have laid down and rose up to feed; which in general is held to be one night at least. 1864Brumby Enclosure Application 38 Right of common which may be exercised in all times of the year for cattle levant and couchant. 1872Law Rep. 7 Com. Pl. 592 All cattle, sheep, and other commonable animals levant and couchant within the borough. ▪ III. levant, v.1|lɪˈvænt| Also livant. [? ad. Sp. levant-ar to lift (levantar la casa to break up housekeeping, levantar el campo to break up the camp), f. levar:—L. levāre to lift.] 1. intr. To steal away, ‘bolt’. Now esp. of a betting man or gamester: To abscond.
1797M. Robinson Walsingham (1805) IV. xc. 261 She found that the sharps would dish me, and levanted without even bidding me farewell. 1809Sporting Mag. XXXIV. 57 [He] must produce a certificate that he has never levanted at any race-course. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxxix, One day we shall hear of one or other levanting. 1863M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. III. xix. 289 The clerk had levanted before his employer returned from America. 1880V. L. Cameron Our Future Highway I. iii. 46 He took the opportunity of his host falling asleep to levant. 1912D. H. Lawrence Let. c 5 Nov. (1962) I. 154 F. had carefully studied Anna Karenina, in a sort of ‘How to be happy though livanted’ spirit. Ibid., I am the fellow she livanted with. †2. trans. Only in levant me!, a mild form of imprecation. Obs.
1760Foote Minor i. Wks. 1799 I. 241 Levant me, but he got enough last night to purchase a principality. Hence leˈvanting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1788G. A. Stevens Adv. Speculist I. 96 This [sc. gaming when one will not be able to pay in the event of losing] at Hazard-table is called Levanting. 1847Thackeray Brighton ii, Guttlebury House was shut up by the lamented levanting of the noble Earl. 1855― Newcomes II. 314 The levanting auctioneer's wife. 1866M. E. Braddon Lady's Mile i. 1 Distracted by vague fears of levanting tenants and bad debts. ▪ IV. levant, v.2|lɪˈvænt| [f. Levant n.1] trans. To make (leather) look like levant morocco.
1869Eng. Mech. 17 Dec. 336/3 Can [he] give me any information about the plan of memelling or levanting leather? |