Word
lees
US/ˈɫiz/
UK/lˈiːz/
Definitions
01drink sediment
n. the solid bits that settle at the bottom of a container of wine or beer during fermentation.
n. the dregs or sediment, consisting of yeast and organic matter, that settle during the fermentation of wine or other liquids.
“The winemaker carefully separated the clear liquid from the lees at the bottom of the barrel.”
“Aging the Chardonnay on the lees for several months imparted a distinctively creamy texture and complex nutty notes to the final vintage.”
Technical
Usage
Usually plural; often used in the phrase 'on the lees' in winemaking contexts.
Teaching tip
This is a highly specialized term. Outside of winemaking or chemistry, it is rarely encountered except in literary metaphors referring to the 'dregs' of society or life.
02the worst part
n. the most unpleasant or least valuable part of something.
n. the most worthless or undesirable part of something; the metaphorical dregs.
“He felt he had drunk the lees of life and had nothing left to look forward to.”
“The poet wrote of a man who had reached the very lees of his existence, abandoned by friends and stripped of his former dignity.”
Literary
Usage
Typically used metaphorically in formal or poetic writing.
Teaching tip
Advise students that this sense is almost exclusively found in 19th-century literature or high-register modern prose.
Etymology
From Old French lies, from Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish ligyā, legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European legʰ- (“to lie (down)”). Doublet of lias; also related to Loire and Leicester.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/lees