ˈwine-lees
[f. wine n.1 + pl. of lee n.2]
The sediment deposited in a vessel containing wine. Also fig.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 60 Aischis of wiyn lies. 1483 Cath. Angl. 419/2 Wyne lees.., tartarum, vinacium. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 95/2 Fex vini vsta,..wine leeze. 1642–4 Vicars God in Mount 40 The wine-lees of poysoning Popish fopperies. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 103 Their faces smeared over with winelees. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xxi, The under-gardener dressed the muleteer's hat in hot wine-lees. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. v, One tall joker..scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine lees—Blood. |
| attrib. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xviii. 202 A matter of a wine lees colour. |