Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective On or toward the side to which the wind is blowing.
  • noun The lee side or quarter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Toward the lee, or that part toward which the wind blows: opposed to windward.
  • Pertaining to the quarter toward which the wind blows; being in the direction of the wind: opposed to windward: as, a leeward course.
  • noun The point or direction opposite to that from which the wind blows: as, to fall to leeward.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Naut.) Pertaining to, or in the direction of, the part or side toward which the wind blows; -- opposed to windward

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Away from the direction from which the wind is blowing. Downwind.
  • adverb Away from the direction from which the wind is blowing. Downwind.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the direction in which the wind is blowing
  • adverb toward the wind
  • adjective on the side away from the wind
  • noun the side of something that is sheltered from the wind

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

lee (“side away from the wind”) +‎ -ward (“direction”)

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Examples

Comments

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  • Lee's magnetic personality attracts just about everything.

    September 5, 2008

  • The river sweats

    Oil and tar

    The barges drift

    With the turning tide

    Red sails

    Wide

    To leeward, swing on the heavy spar.

    - TS Eliot, 'The Wasteland'.

    July 22, 2009