levee

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An embankment raised to prevent a river from overflowing.
2. n. A small ridge or raised area bordering an irrigated field.
3. n. A landing place on a river; a pier.
4. v. To provide with a levee.
5. n. A reception held, as by royalty, upon arising from bed.
6. n. A formal reception, as at a royal court.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An embankment on the margin of a river, to confine it within its natural channel: as, the levees of the Mississippi.
2. n. Hence A landing-place for vessels; a quay, pier, or landing-stage.
3. To embank: as, to levee a river.
4. n. The act or time of rising.
5. n. A morning reception held by a prince or great personage; a morning assembly. The term is chiefly applied in Great Britain to the stated public occasions on which the sovereign receives such persons as are entitled by rank or favor to the honor. It is distinguished from a drawing-room in the respect that, whereas at a levee men alone appear (with the exception of the chief ladies of the court), both women and men attend a drawing-room. In old French usage, a levee (lever) was a reception of nobles by the king on his rising from bed, or during or immediately after the making of his toilet.
6. n. A general or miscellaneous assemblage of guests, without reference to the time of day; a reception: as, the president's levee.
7. To attend the levee of; fasten one's self on, or pester, at levees.
8. n. In irrigation, one of the small continuous ridges of earth surrounding the fields, or compartments, of land that is to be irrigated. The levees are usually from three to five feet wide at the bottom, and a foot or more in height, being broad and low, so that wheeled agricultural implements can pass over them without injury.

Wiktionary

1. n. obsolete The act of rising; getting up, especially in the morning after rest.
2. n. A reception of visitors held after getting up.
3. n. A formal reception, especially one given by royalty or other leaders.
4. n. An embankment to prevent inundation; as, the levees along the Mississippi.
5. n. US The steep bank of a river, or border of an irrigated field.
6. n. US A pier or other landing place on a river.
7. v. US, transitive To keep within a channel by means of levees.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of rising.
2. n. A morning assembly or reception of visitors, -- in distinction from a soirée, or evening assembly; a matinée; hence, also, any general or somewhat miscellaneous gathering of guests, whether in the daytime or evening.
3. v. To attend the levee or levees of.
4. n. United States An embankment to prevent inundation; ; sometimes, the steep bank of a river.
5. v. United States To keep within a channel by means of levees.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a pier that provides a landing place on a river
2. n. an embankment that is built in order to prevent a river from overflowing
3. n. a formal reception of visitors or guests (as at a royal court)