n. 1. Nautical The side away from the direction from which the wind blows. 2. An area sheltered from the wind: in the lee of the boulder. 3. Cover; shelter. adj. 1. Nautical Of or relating to the side sheltered from the wind: the lee gunwale. 2. Located in or facing the path of an oncoming glacier. Used of a geologic formation. [Middle English le, from Old English hlēo, shelter, protection; see kelə-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
American burlesque entertainer whose memoir Gypsy (1957) was the basis for a popular musical of the same name. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
Chinese-born American physicist who shared a 1957 Nobel Prize for theorizing that the principle of parity conservation did not hold in weak interactions between elementary particles. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
British-born American Revolutionary general whose performance at the Battle of Monmouth (1778), when he ordered a retreat instead of attacking, brought about his court-martial and dismissal. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
British religious leader and founder (1776) of the Shakers in America. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
American Revolutionary leader who proposed the resolution calling for the independence of the American colonies from England (1776). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
American writer. Her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), dealing with racial injustice in the South, won a Pulitzer Prize. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
American Revolutionary politician and soldier. He served in the Virginia legislature (1785-1788 and 1789-1791) and as governor of Virginia (1792-1795). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.