arch. Forms: 3–5 levene, 4 leyven, leivin, 5 levyn, 5–6 lewyn(e, 6 leav’n, 3–7, 9 leven, levin. [ME. leven(e, of obscure origin.
By some conjectured to represent an unrecorded ON. or OE. cognate of ON. leiptr fem., lightning; but this is very doubtful. Phonetic laws as known at present do not allow of connecting ME. levene with MSw. ljugn-elder (mod. Sw. ljung-), lyghna, Da. lyn-ild, lightning, Da. lyne, to lighten; these words are cogn. w. OE. líȝ LEYE, and ultimately with LIGHT sb.]
Lightning; a flash of lightning; also, any bright light or flame.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3265. Ðhunder, and leuene … God sente on ðat hird.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22477. Þe sterns wit þair leman [Gött. lemand] leuen.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2690. And forth rith al so leuin fares.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 277. With wilde thonder dynt and firy leuene Moote thy welked nekke be to-broke.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 77. The thonder with his fyri levene So cruel was upon the hevene.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. ii. Out of whose mouthe, leuen and wylde fyre, Lyke a flawme euer blased out.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 650. All the wod on a leuyn me thoght that he gard Appere.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxvii. 255. Out of the east parte appered a great leuyn or beam of bryghtnes.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 10. All thocht he be the hart and lamp of hevin, Forfeblit wolx his lemand giltly lewyne, Throw the declyning of his large round speir.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 109. Mars he resembles thee, when from fift heau’n Thou comst down guirt with ire and ghastly leau’n.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. vi. 40. As when the flashing Levin haps to light Vppon two stubborne oakes.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. i. I. xxii. Swift as the levin from the sneezing skie.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. xxiii. The Mount, where Israel heard the law, ’Mid thunder-dint, and flashing levin, And shadows, mists, and darkness, given.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., V. At Sea. See! from its summit the lurid levin Flashes downward.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 348. I would that … the almighty sire Would hurl me with his leven to the shades.
1880. Swinburne, Songs Springtides, Gard. Cymodoce, 90. The leaping of the lamping levin afar.
b. attrib. and Comb., as levin-bolt, -brand († brond), -fire, -flame; levin-darting adj.
1820. Scott, Monast., ii. ‘God-a-mercy, my little *‘levin-bolt,’ said Stawarth.
1864. Conington, Æneid, VI. (1873), 200. The levin-bolt’s authentic fire.
a. 1599. Spenser, F. Q., VII. vi. 30. And eft his burning *levin-brond in hand he tooke.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxv. Resistless flash’d the levin-brand.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, Pref. (2nd ed.). Some of those … over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xviii. They were not arm’d like England’s sons, But bore the *levin-darting guns. Ibid. (1820), Ivanhoe, xxxii. Crash after crash, as with wild thunder-dints and *levin-fire. Ibid. (1813), Rokeby, V. xxxiii. Like wolves before the *levin flame.
1866. J. B. Rose, trans. Ovid’s Met., 229. The leven flame Forth from his eyes, forth from his nostrils came.
