Meaning

noun a heavy morocco often used in bookbinding

noun the former name for the geographical area of the eastern Mediterranean that is now occupied by Lebanon, Syria, and Israel

verb run off without paying a debt

originTransferral use of Levant, from French levant. Compare French faire voile en Levant (“to sail eastward”), literally: set the sail with the Levant, an easterly wind that blows in the Mediterranean Sea. Ultimately from Latin levō + -ant.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0