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levant

 [li-vant]   Origin

le·vant

   [li-vant]
verb (used without object) British Slang.
to leave secretly or hurriedly to avoid paying debts.
Origin:
1750–60; perhaps < Spanish levantar to lift (Compare levantar el campo to break camp, leave), frequentative of levar < Latin levāre

Related forms
le·vant·er, noun

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Levant is one of our favorite verbs.
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to bark; yelp.
chat, to converse
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

Le·vant

   [li-vant]
noun
1.
the lands bordering the E shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
2.
Also called Levant morocco. a superior grade of morocco having a large and prominent grain, originally made in the Levant.
Origin:
1490–1500; earlier levaunt < Middle French levant, noun use (with reference to rising sun) of present participle of lever to raise (se lever to rise). See lever
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
levant1 (lɪˈvænt)
 
—n
a type of leather made from the skins of goats, sheep, or seals, having a pattern of irregular creases
 
[C19: shortened from Levant morocco (type of leather)]

levant2 (lɪˈvænt)
 
—vb
(Brit) (intr) to bolt or abscond, esp to avoid paying debts
 
[C18: perhaps from Spanish levantar (el campo) to break (camp)]

Levant (lɪˈvænt)
 
—n
the Levant a former name for the area of the E Mediterranean now occupied by Lebanon, Syria, and Israel
 
[C15: from Old French, from the present participle of lever to raise (referring to the rising of the sun in the east), from Latin levāre]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
Main Entry:  levant
Part of Speech:  n
Definition:  See aram sandwich
Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2012 Dictionary.com, LLC
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

Levant
"Mediterranean lands east of Italy," 1497, from M.Fr. levant "the Orient," from prp. of lever "to rise" (from L. levare "to raise;" see lever). The region so called in allusion to the direction of sunrise.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
Levant [(luh-vant)]

Name for the nations on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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