leavy, a.
(ˈliːvɪ)
[Earlier and more normal form of leafy.]
1. Having leaves; covered with leaves or foliage. Obs. exc. poet.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 486 With leuy bowis puld ek let hem be By nyght. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcvi. vi, Leavy infants of the wood. 1608 Shakes. Per. v. i. 51 The leauie shelter that abutts against the Islands side. 1634 Milton Comus 278 Dim darknes, and this leavy Labyrinth. 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. xxi. 266 So doth the humble vine creep at the foot of an oak..and [they] are the most remarkable of friends..of all the leavie nation. 1745 tr. Columella's Husb. ix. ix, A green leavy little tree. 1832 Tennyson Margaret v, And faint, rainy lights are seen, Moving in the leavy beech. 1833 ― Poems 42, I heard..The nightingale in leavy woods Call to its mate. |
† b. Of a season: Abounding in foliage. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 75 The fraud of men were euer so, Since summer first was leauy. |
c. Consisting of or made of leaves (either natural or ornamental).
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. xix, He fled thy sight,..And for his shield a leavie armour weav'd. 1611 Cotgr., Fueillure..; also, leafe-worke, or a leauie flourishing. |
† 2. Of a gate: Having leaves. Obs.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad vi. 86 Take the key, vnlocke the leauie gates. |
Hence † ˈleaviness, leafiness.
| 1611 Cotgr., Fueillure, Leauinesse. 1687 Rycaut Contn. Knolles' Hist. Turks II. 252 The shady leaviness of two tall elms. |