lever

adv

Etymology: From Middle English lever, comparative of leve, leef (“dear, beloved, lief”), equivalent to lief + -er. Related to German lieber (“rather”).

1. Rather.

   “Now therfore take my life from me / for I had leuer dye then liue.”

   “The wolde ſome mayſter perhappes clowt ye / But as for me ye nede nat doute ye / For I had leuer be without ye / Then haue ſuche beſyneſſe aboute ye.”

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree French leverbor. English lever Borrowed from French lever.

1. A levee.

   “We do not appear at Phœbus's Levér.”

   “Louis XIV’s day began with a lever at 9 and ended (officially) at around midnight.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English lever, levore, levour, from Old French leveor, leveur (“a lifter, lever (also Old French and French levier)”), from Latin levātor (“a lifter”), from levō (“to raise”). Doublet of levator.

1. To move with a lever.

   “With great effort and a big crowbar I managed to lever the beam off the floor.”

   “Someone found a pick and levered a burst plank out of the floor, and in a few minutes we had got a fire alight and our drenched clothes were steaming.”

2. To use, operate or move (something) like a lever (physically).

   “Sullen now, with stultified spleen, Mrs Dibble grappled her crutches and levered herself upright after an ungainly struggle.”

   “Suddenly he had levered himself up from the sofa, rocking the lame man violently, and was walking towards the receptionist.”

3. To use (something) like a lever (in an abstract sense).

   “He was a man who levered his way from small-time communist hack to political power by tapping into the most potent vein of historical juice in the Balkans: nationalism.”

   “Credited with pioneering the detective novel, Collins has attracted many biographers over the years, drawn to his extraordinary life and work in the hope of levering open a new understanding of the Victorian psyche.”

4. To increase the share of debt in the capitalization of a business.

   “"The equity holders want you to 'lever up,' use as much debt as you can," said David Stanley, chairman of Kansas City-based Payless Cashways,”