lees

Etymology 1

Old French lies, from Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

noun

1. The sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit.
   Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 7
   Kipper drained his glass to the lees and seemed to become calmer. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X

Etymology 2

noun

1. plural of lee