From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishleveelev‧ee /ˈlevi/ noun [countable] TBWATERa special wall built to stop a river flooding
Examples from the Corpus
levee• The last four of these sub-deltas were formed by levee breaches in 1839,1860,1874 and 1891.• Angelenos continue to argue over flood control, levees and recreational use of the channel.• Officials brought in bulldozers in an effort to build a 5-foot high levee to protect property from the encroaching Sacramento.• It also wanted to erect fifteen hundred miles of new levees.• Other levees had been breached Friday night in similar efforts to spare populated areas.• Many islands are below sea level and only the levees prevent them from vanishing.• In flood conditions, however, brimming reservoirs sometimes spill more water than downstream rivers can handle, thus straining the levees.• The levees caused the areas between to be very subject to flooding and consequently peat formation was further favoured.Origin levee (1600-1700) French levée, from lever “to raise” 