Levant

Meanings

1. A cultural region of West Asia, consisting of the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, namely Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus (and sometimes, especially in a historical context, also including Turkey and Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire).

1. An easterly wind, generally in the western Mediterranean Sea.
2. A type of leather.

1. A disappearing or absconding after losing a bet.

1. To abscond or run away, especially to avoid paying money or debts.

1. Rising, of an animal.
2. Rising or having risen from rest; said of cattle.
3. Eastern.

Etymology

Borrowed from French levant (“rising, sun's point of rising”), form of lever (“to rise”), from Latin levō (“to rise”) (cf. also the present participle levāns), from levis (“light, not heavy”).