Levee
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The cutting of the dykes, and opening of the sluice-gates, which was resorted to in order to free Holland from Spanish tyranny, was a desperate resource, and in itself a national calamity, entailing beggary for some years upon a large portion of the population, owing to the length of time and the very great expense which a second recovery of the land from the sea required. This glorious sacrifice, however, served to show that it needs not the mountains of Switzerland nor the fastnesses of Tyrol, to enable a brave people to defend their native land."--A Hand-book for Travellers on the Continent (1838) by Murray's Handbooks for Travellers |
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A levee, levée, dike (or dyke), embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast.