levant

Multiple Entries:
  levant    Levant    storax  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
levant /lɪˈvant/

▶verb archaic abscond leaving unpaid debts.

– origin C17: perh. from Levant: cf. Fr. faire voile en Levant ‘be stolen or spirited away’, lit. ‘set sail for the Levant’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Levant /lɪˈvant/

▶noun (the Levant) archaic the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

– derivatives
Levantine noun & adjective.

– origin C15: from Fr., lit. ‘rising’, pres. part. of lever ‘to lift’ used as a noun in the sense ‘point of sunrise, east’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
storax /ˈstɔːraks/ (also styrax)

▶noun

• 1 a fragrant gum resin obtained from a tree, used in medicine, perfumery, and incense.

  ■ (Levant or liquid storax) liquidambar.

• 2 the tree yielding storax, or one of its relatives, with clusters of white flowers. [Styrax officinalis (E. Mediterranean region) and related species.]

– origin ME: from L., from a var. of Gk sturax.