DCHP-1 Online
levee † [< F levée] 
1 n. in Canada, a formal reception, usually for men only, held New Year's morning by the Governor General, lieutenant-governors, and, sometimes, mayors.
See also: New Year's (Day) levee
- 1844 (1955) I wish you a happy new year--la bonne Année as the Canadians say. . . . It is a day of great fête in which the gentlemen hold a kind of levée in the morning and give a dance in the evening. . . . A separate levee or drawing room is held for the ladies. . . .
- 1860 (1955) At 11 a levee was held at the Court-house, at which nearly 1,100 persons attended.
- 1960 Mayor Nelms held his own levee at city hall yesterday afternoon.
- 1964 A few service women . . . entered the receiving lines at some of the levees but only in Ontario was the male-only custom not held sacred.
2 n. a formal reception held on New Year's morning by the members of a military mess.
- 1964 On New Year's morning officers of the permanent and reserve forces of the three armed services held the traditional New Year's levees.
- 1844 (1955) I wish you a happy new year--la bonne Année as the Canadians say. . . . It is a day of great fête in which the gentlemen hold a kind of levée in the morning and give a dance in the evening. . . . A separate levee or drawing room is held for the ladies. . . .