levin

From Middle English levene; earlier etymology less clear. Thought to be ultimately from *lewk-. Possibly a Scandinavian loan.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛvɪn/

levin (plural levins)

1. (archaic) Lightning; a bolt of lightning; also, a bright flame or light.
   • c1280, Anonymous, “Godrich Displays Great Prowess”, in Frederic Madden, editor, The Lay of Havelok the Dane‎, London: N. Trübner & Company, published 1868, line 2690, page 76:

     And forth rith al so leuin fares.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.5:

     neither blood in face nor life in hart / It left, but both did quite drye up and blast; / As piercing levin, which the inner part / Of every thing consumes, and calcineth by art.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Currer Bell, editor, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography‎, volume 1, Leipzig, published 1848, page ix:

     I cannot tell; but I think if some of those amongst whom he hurls the Greek fire of his sarcasm, and over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation, were to take his warnings in time — they or their seed might escape a fatal Ramoth-Gilead.

• Elvin, Nevil, V line, V-line, liven, v-line

levin

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of eleiven