Words - skip - Brewer’s

Levʹant and Couchant

Applied to cattle which have strayed into another’s field, and have been there long enough to lie down and sleep. The owner of the field can demand compensation for such intrusion. (Latin, “levantes et cubantes,” rising up and going to bed.)

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.