Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun plural Sediment settling during fermentation, especially in wine; dregs.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun plural See
lee . - noun A Middle English form of
leash . - noun See
lease .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural Dregs. See 2d
lee . - noun obsolete A leash.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
sediment that settles duringfermentation of beverages, consisting of deadyeast andprecipitated parts of the fruit. - noun sailing Plural form of
lee .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Before dinner, we heard a powerful lecture on the environment by r. martin lees, and then not long after we ate, it was announced there was a singer in the room.
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Before dinner, we heard a powerful lecture on the environment by r. martin lees, and then not long after we ate, it was announced there was a singer in the room.
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This they either lick up or drink mixed with milk, and from its lees, that is the solid part, they make cakes and use them for food; for they have not many cattle, since the pastures there are by no means good.
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Grape juice, when first expressed from its ruddy chalice, is impure and thick; it is left in vessels for a time till fermentation has done its work, and a thick sediment, called lees, has been precipitated to the bottom.
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Grape juice, when first expressed from its ruddy chalice, is impure and thick; it is left in vessels for a time till fermentation has done its work, and a thick sediment, called lees, has been precipitated to the bottom.
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This they either lick up or drink mixed with milk, and from its lees, that is the solid part, they make cakes and use them for food; for they have not many cattle, since the pastures there are by no means good.
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He wrote that the animals were being fed waste by-products from a winery, known as lees, as
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The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease ( "lees") on the ungodly is hardening: they become stupidly secure (compare Ps 55: 19; Am 6: 1).
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The “passengers” were two strains of bacteria: lactic acid bacteria used in ordinary yogurt and a unique strain of Lactobacillus paracasei cultured from pickles preserved in the dregs of sake called sake lees, which is thought to enhance the body’s immunity to disease.
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It was applied to "lees" from the custom of allowing wine to stand on the lees that it might thereby be better preserved (Isa.
seanahan commented on the word lees
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore
July 11, 2007
seanahan commented on the word lees
Evidently this means the crud at the bottom of a barrel of wine, sediment left over from fermentation. So essentially, to drink life to the lees you are "enjoying every last drop". It's funny how metaphors get recycled with new words.
July 11, 2007
slumry commented on the word lees
Very nice. There are often lees in a bottle of wine, too--especially old wine.
July 11, 2007
reallifepixel commented on the word lees
It is Celtic in origin.
October 20, 2009