leeway
the freedom to act (within certain limits)
TRANSLATION
leeway = der Spielraum (fig.), die Bewegunsfreiheit leeway = (naut.) die Abdrift, der Leeweg (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX leeway: approximately 2,000,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Agriculture businesses have less LEEWAY to raise prices since the prices of their commodity products are highly dependent on supply and demand conditions…
(BusinessWeek magazine)
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Banks to get China LEEWAY. Beijing is taking further steps to make it easier for foreign banks to do business in China.
(BBC News Headline)
(BusinessWeek magazine)
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Banks to get China LEEWAY. Beijing is taking further steps to make it easier for foreign banks to do business in China.
(BBC News Headline)
Did you
know?
leeway
noun
- freedom to act within particular limits (Local councils will be given some leeway as to how they implement the legislation.)
- an amount or period of time, which might be additional or wasted (There is a lot of leeway to make up after the holiday period.)
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
- the drift of a ship or an aircraft to leeward of the course being steered
(American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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WORD ORIGIN
Lee, as in leeway or leeward, stems from the Old English "hleo", meaning shelter or protection. This is where we get the word leeward, which means on or towards the side to which the wind is blowing (ward is a suffix that means in the direction of or towards). Leeward is used in aviation and boating/sailing to describe the side of an aircraft or vessel towards which the wind is blowing:
"One magnificent evening, the 30th July, the frigate was abreast of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia."
(Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea)
Leeway was first used to describe the drift of a ship away from the wind in the late 17th century. A ship with lots of surface area on its beam (side) will experience more leeway, since the wind has more area to blow onto and make the ship drift off course. The strength of the wind obviously plays a large role as well. Navigators must adjust their course depending on how much leeway the ship is experiencing. The figurative sense of having the space or flexibility to do something was first recorded around 1827.
(sources: The American Heritage Dictionary)
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SYNONYMS
clearance, cushion, drift, elbowroom, flexibility, latitude, margin, play, room, space, tolerance
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"How much leeway do I have to offer a discount during the customer meeting?"
noun
- freedom to act within particular limits (Local councils will be given some leeway as to how they implement the legislation.)
- an amount or period of time, which might be additional or wasted (There is a lot of leeway to make up after the holiday period.)
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
- the drift of a ship or an aircraft to leeward of the course being steered
(American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Lee, as in leeway or leeward, stems from the Old English "hleo", meaning shelter or protection. This is where we get the word leeward, which means on or towards the side to which the wind is blowing (ward is a suffix that means in the direction of or towards). Leeward is used in aviation and boating/sailing to describe the side of an aircraft or vessel towards which the wind is blowing:
"One magnificent evening, the 30th July, the frigate was abreast of Cape Blanc, thirty miles to leeward of the coast of Patagonia."
(Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea)
Leeway was first used to describe the drift of a ship away from the wind in the late 17th century. A ship with lots of surface area on its beam (side) will experience more leeway, since the wind has more area to blow onto and make the ship drift off course. The strength of the wind obviously plays a large role as well. Navigators must adjust their course depending on how much leeway the ship is experiencing. The figurative sense of having the space or flexibility to do something was first recorded around 1827.
(sources: The American Heritage Dictionary)
---
SYNONYMS
clearance, cushion, drift, elbowroom, flexibility, latitude, margin, play, room, space, tolerance
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"How much leeway do I have to offer a discount during the customer meeting?"
