alee
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of alee
Explanation
When you're alee, you're on the side of a boat facing away from the wind. If a sailor moves the sail alee, she moves it downwind. Alee is a nautical term, one you're most likely to hear on a boat or ship. Another way to say "on the downwind side" is leeward. Both words include lee, from the Old English hleo, "shelter, cover, defense, or protection." So the alee side of a sailboat is the side that's sheltered from the wind, and the phrase "Hard alee!" is a command to move the sail to the boat's protected side.
Vocabulary lists containing alee
Scrabble: Four-Letter Words with 3 Vowels
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That's the Way the Wind Blows
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4-letter words, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 720 ft ship was doing 27 knots and the helm was hard alee.
From The Verge • Aug. 25, 2022
With helm hard alee the Knitsley started to run back to the shelter of nearby Santander, still held by Leftists.
From Time Magazine Archive
These were doing their best to fly, but failing of that luck, put helm alee, and shivered in the wind, and made fine speeches, proving that they must win the day.
From Mary Anerley : a Yorkshire Tale by Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)
The skipper he threw himsel frae the win' An' he brayt the helm alee.
From The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by MacDonald, George
Within her sides, now hopeless, helmless, bare, At random o'er the wildering waters hurled; 10 The reek of battle drifting slow alee Not sullener than we.
From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by Lowell, James Russell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
