Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - levee

 I. noun  Etymology: French lever, from Middle French, act of arising, from (se) lever to rise  Date: 1672  1. a reception held by a person of distinction on rising from bed  2. an afternoon assembly at which the British sovereign or his or her representative receives only men  3. a reception usually in honor of a particular person  II. noun  Etymology: French levee, from Old French, act of raising, from lever to raise — more at lever  Date: circa 1720  1.  a. an embankment for preventing flooding  b. a river landing place ; pier  2. a continuous dike or ridge (as of earth) for confining the irrigation areas of land to be flooded  III. transitive verb  (~d; ~ing)  Date: 1832 to provide with a ~