| 释义 |
Levant, n.1 (and quasi-a.)|lɪˈvænt|
Also (in sense 4 b) 6 levand, 7 leven.
[a. F. levant, pres. pple. of lever to rise, used subst. for the point where the sun rises; hence as in senses 1 and 2. (In Milton stressed ˈlevant.)]
1. Geog.
†a. The countries of the East. the High Levant = the far East (cf. high a. 3). cloth of Levant = bezetta (see quot. 1558). Obs.
b. spec. The eastern part of the Mediterranean, with its islands and the countries adjoining.
1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 218 A viage to be made into the levaunt. 1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. iv. 80 To make a kinde of cloth, called cloth of Leuant wherwith women vse to colour their faces. 1561Eden Arte Nauig. iii. i. 54 b, The Hydrographers..haue chaunged the names, Callyng the Leuant or Orient, East. The Ponent or Occident, West. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 99 My voiage to the Ilands of Candia and Chio in the Leuant. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xvi. §2 It is the use of China, and the Kingdoms of the High Levant. 1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2320/3 Not to allow Pratique to any Ships coming from the Levant. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Levant, in geography, signifies any country situate to the east of us. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 453/1 Levant..is also commonly used..to designate the eastern or Asiatic shores of that sea [the Mediterranean]. 1844Kinglake Eothen v. (1864) 66 That Grecian race against which you will be cautioned so carefully as soon as you touch the Levant.
2. An easterly wind blowing up the Mediterranean; a levanter. ? Obs.
1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 81 The 29. there came a fresh gale att S.E.; which..blowed constantely a strong Leuante. 1693Dryden's Juvenal xiv. (1697) 367 Carpathian Gale... We term it at Sea, a strong Levant. 1762More in Phil. Trans. LII. 450 Setting sail with a light Levant, to pass the strait to the westward. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Levant, a wind coming from the east, which freshens as the sun rises.
3. A kind of leather = levant morocco (see 4 b).
1880Times 25 Sept. 4/5 The leathers known..as Levants, Memels and Cordovans.
4. attrib. and Comb.:
a. passing into adj. with sense ‘east-, eastern’, as levant sea, Levant wind.
1601Holland Pliny I. 129 It begins at the Levant sea of Oriental Indians. 1657Howell Londinop. 386 She is built upon the utmost levant point of Europe. 1667Milton P.L. x. 704 Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent Windes. 1691Lond. Gaz. No. 2655/2 She was driven by a strong Levant Wind from her Anchor in that Bay. 1798Lady Hunter 16 Nov. in Jrnl. Sir M. & Lady Hunter (1894) 131 Some days before the rain came we had what they call a levant wind. 1819H. Busk Vestriad iii. 656 Breathless, the ponent wind in vain he plies, Nor can the levant lift him.
b. (sense 1 b, ‘pertaining to or coming from the Levant’), as Levant feathers, Levant morocco, Levant sea, Levant skin, Levant taffeta, Levant thrift (a plant).
1503–4Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1900) II. 239 Tua gret beddis of levand fedderis. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. clxxvii. §2. 482 Caryophyllus Mediterraneus Leuant Thrift, or Lea Gilloflower. a1625Beaum. & Fl. Wit without M. ii. iv, A sharpe Prognostication that shal scowre them..like leven taffaties. 1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3719/4 The Hon. Company of Merchants Trading to the Levant Seas. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages ix. ii. (1819) III. 391 Sanuto..has left us a curious account of the Levant trade. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 88 The French have the pre-eminence in the species of Levant skins marked with a handsome full-grain. Mod. Bookseller's Catal., Choicely bound in half crimson levant morocco. |