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
The flood tide making over the shoals sets in with a thrussh of broken water alee of the wreck.
From Merchantmen-at-arms : the British merchants' service in the war by David W. (David William) Bone
With the sails furled, and the helm lashed alee; Ð applied to ships in a storm.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
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 R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore
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.
