lees
noun/liːz/
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.
1
The sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit.
- Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 7:
- Kipper drained his glass to the lees and seemed to become calmer.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X: