an old name for the area of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, including Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Turkey. Historical name for the countries along the shores of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It was applied to the coastlands of Anatolia and Syria, sometimes extending from Greece to Egypt. The term was often associated with Venetian trading ventures. It was also used as a synonym for the Middle or Near East. In the 16th-17th centuries the term High Levant referred to the Far East (East Asia). The name Levant States was given to the French mandate of Syria and Lebanon after World War I (1914-18)
\Le"vant\, n Former name of geographical area in the eastern Mediterranean a 1: rising or having risen from rest, as of cattle 2: (obs) eastern v to run off without paying one's debts; to decamp
the former name for the geographical area of the eastern Mediterranean that is now occupied by Lebanon and Syria and Israel a heavy morocco often used in bookbinding run off without paying a debt The state of an albino, or of a white child of black parents