Word Confusion: Lea vs Lee vs Lees

Plural for the noun: leas

Alternative spelling: ley

Plural for the noun: lees

Singular noun: lees

• Fallow

Noun:
[Literary] An open area of grassy or arable land ¹

Meadow

Land used for a few years for pasture or for growing hay, then plowed over and replaced by another crop

A crop of hay on tillable land

A scythe

[Textiles] A measure of yarn of varying quantity, for wool usually 80 yards (73 meters), cotton and silk 120 yards (110 meters), linen 300 yards (274 meters) ²

• A unit length used to ascertain the linear density of yarns
• A count or number representing units of linear measure per pound in linen or cotton yarn

[Textile] One of the sets of alternating threads into which the yarns of a loom are divided by the harness system so as to form the shed

• A set of warp threads carried by a loop of the heddle

Proper noun:
A female given name as a latinized form of Leah ³

An English surname, a variant of Lee

Noun:
[Also lee side] The sheltered side of something ¹

• The side away from the wind
• Shelter from wind or weather given by a neighboring object, especially nearby land

[Chiefly nautical] The quarter or region toward which the wind blows

Proper noun:
Name of a male/female person ²

• Dregs
• The most worthless part or parts of something

They left the land in lea for a year.

Part of the arable soil still lies in lea.

Noun:
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea.

Some distance away, atop a grassy knoll upon the lea, they had laid her to rest in an unmarked grave, as alone in death as she had been in life.

He is also aware of the need to sow grass seed to ensure a choice of area for lea ploughing next year.

“But this I know, I love to play In the meadow, among the hay– Up the water, and o’er the lea, That’s the way for Billy and me” (Hogg).

“Willy has decided to send Mally and the bairns away from the farm, while he will sharpen his old lea and remain behind to defend his homestead” (Moorman).

One lea is 120 yards.

She had a choice between a 20- or 40-lea yarn.

There are many things that can cause the lea to not separate cleanly, and thus produce a poor shed.

A slack lea can cause a poor shed.

Proper noun:
Lea Hay is a certified speech pathologist located in the greater DC region.

The movies in which Lea Salonga has starred include Aladdin, Miss Saigon, and Les Misérables.

Lea Michele will portray Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.

Homer Lea was a U.S. soldier, author, and adviser from 1911–12 to Sun Yat-sen in China.

If your boat enters a “no-sail-zone”, you could drift into the lee shore.

“We parked our vehicles beside the hotel on what we considered to be the lee side from the shelling and went into the building” (Stewart).

Noun:
Ducks were taking shelter on the lee of the island.

We pitched our tents in the lee of a rock.

The lee of the rock gave us some protection against the storm.

We erected our huts under the lee of the mountain.

Careless steering brought the wind by the lee.

Proper noun:
Lee Marvin was an amazing actor.

Robert E. Lee was a famous Confederate general.

Gypsy Rose Lee was infamous for her dancing.

The wine is aged on the lees in the bottle for about three years prior to disgorgement.

Potassium tartrate, the source of this white residue, is sometimes referred to as lees.

They were the lees of the Venetian underworld.

1. Old English lēa(h) is of Germanic origin and related to the Old High German loh meaning grove, from an Indo-European root shared by the Sanskrit lokás meaning open space and the Latin lucus meaning grove.
2. 1350–1400; perhaps a back formation from Middle English lese, a variant of leash.
3. Unknown.

1. Old English hlēo, hlēow meaning shelter, is of Germanic origin and probably related to luke- in lukewarm.
2. Unknown.