▪ I. leste
(ˈlɛsteɪ)
[a. Pg. leste east wind.]
(See quot. 1967.)
| 1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 248/2 Sometimes a waft of the lesté, or east wind, raises it [sc. the temperature in Madeira] to 90°. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 499/2 The Leste is commonly accompanied by clouds of fine red sand. 1967 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Atmospheric Sci. 1155 Leste. This is a hot, dry, easterly wind occasionally encountered in Madeira and the Canary Islands at any season except in summer. Essentially it is an extension of the harmattan that blows across the Sahara and is accordingly hot and dry... It is similar to the sirocco of the Mediterranean and the leveche of Spain. |
▪ II. leste(n
obs. form of last v.1, listen.