▪ I. levin, n. arch.
(ˈlɛvɪn)
Forms: 3–5 levene, 4 leyven, leivin, 5 levyn, 5–6 lewyn(e, 6 leav'n, 3–7, 9 leven, levin.
[ME. leven(e, of obscure origin.
By some conjectured to represent an unrecorded ON. or OE. cognate of ON. leiptr fem., lightning; but this is very doubtful. Phonetic laws as known at present do not allow of connecting ME. levene with MSw. ljugn-elder (mod.Sw. ljung-), lyghna, Da. lyn-ild, lightning, Da. lyne, to lighten; these words are cogn. w. OE. l{iacu}ᵹ leye, and ultimately with light n.]
Lightning; a flash of lightning; also, any bright light or flame.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3265 Ðhunder, and leuene..God sente on ðat hird. a 1300 Cursor M. 22477 Þe sterns wit þair leman [Gött. lemand] leuen. c 1300 Havelok 2690 And forth rith al so leuin fares. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 277 With wilde thonder dynt and firy leuene Moote thy welked nekke be to-broke. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 77 The thonder with his fyri levene So cruel was upon the hevene. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. ii, Out of whose mouthe, leuen and wylde fyre, Lyke a flawme euer blased out. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 650 All the wod on a leuyn me thoght that he gard Appere. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxvii. 255 Out of the east parte appered a great leuyn or beam of bryghtnes. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 10 All thocht he be the hart and lamp of hevin, Forfeblit wolx his lemand giltly lewyne, Throw the declyning of his large round speir. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 109 Mars he resembles thee, when from fift heau'n Thou comst down guirt with ire and ghastly leau'n. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. vi. 40 As when the flashing Levin haps to light Vppon two stubborne oakes. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. i. xxii, Swift as the levin from the sneezing skie. 1808 Scott Marm. i. xxiii, The Mount, where Israel heard the law, 'Mid thunder-dint, and flashing levin, And shadows, mists, and darkness, given. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. At Sea, See! from its summit the lurid levin Flashes downward. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 348, I would that..the almighty sire Would hurl me with his leven to the shades. 1880 Swinburne Songs Springtides, Gard. Cymodoce 90 The leaping of the lamping levin afar. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
levin-bolt,
levin-brand (
† levin brond),
levin-fire,
levin-flame;
levin-darting adj.| 1820 Scott Monast. ii, ‘God-a-mercy, my little *levin-bolt,’ said Stawarth. 1864 Conington æneid vi. (1873) 200 The levin-bolt's authentic fire. |
| a 1599 Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 30 And eft his burning *levin-brond in hand he tooke. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. vi. xxv, Resistless flash'd the levin-brand. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre Pref. (2nd ed.), Some of those..over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation. |
| 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iv. xviii, They were not arm'd like England's sons, But bore the *levin-darting guns. |
| 1820 ― Ivanhoe xxxii, Crash after crash, as with wild thunder-dints and *levin-fire. |
| 1813 ― Rokeby v. xxxiii, Like wolves before the *levin flame. 1866 J. B. Rose tr. Ovid's Met. 229 The leven flame Forth from his eyes, forth from his nostrils came. |
▪ II. † ˈlevin, v. Obs. [f. levin n.] intr. To lighten, emit flashes of light or lightning. Also
trans. with cognate object.
| 13.. E.E. Psalter cxliii. 7 Leuen brightnesses [Vulg. fulgura coruscationem]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7723 His Ene leuenaund with light as a low fyn. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 665/7 Fulgurat, lewnes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 304/1 Lyghtenyn, or leuenyn, coruscat, fulmino. 1483 [see levining vbl. n.]. 1530 Palsgr. 609/2 It leveneth, as the lygtenyng dothe... Dyd you nat se it leven right nowe? |
Hence
† ˈlevining ppl. a.| a 1340 Hampole Psalter Cant. 510 In shynynge of þi leuenand spere. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1988 With a leuenyng light as a low fyre. |