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plural Levites
A member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. quotations examples
And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Judges 17:7
(obsolete, humorous) A clergyman.
(now historical) A type of loose women's dress. quotations
A habit-maker […] is gone stark in love with Lady Ossory, on fitting her with the new dress, I think they call it a Levite, and says he never saw so glorious a figure […] .
1779, Horace Walpole, letter, 15 November
Gainsborough shows her wearing a blue and white striped silk wrapping gown, known as a levite: a clever and subtle choice of costume, vaguely ‘oriental’ in mood, deriving its name from the theatre.
2003, Aileen Ribeiro, in Robyn Asleson, Notorious Muse, Yale UNiversity Press 2003, p. 109
not comparable
Of or pertaining to Levi, or to the tribe of Levi. examples