Providing definitions within the text

Concerned about friends who live in the flood-ravaged areas of California, I visited the website of the newspaper The Stockton Record. I found there a nice example of providing the definition of an unfamiliar word.

S.J. battered
Delta levees feel the strain of heavy rainfall
Yasmin Assemi
Record Staff Writer
Published Monday, Jan 2, 2006


"... In Stockton, crews have worked since Saturday to prevent Elmwood Tract from flooding. California Conservation Corps crews and other emergency workers used sandbags to repair levee leaks caused by beaver dens and rodent holes, said Bill Burkhard, an engineer with the California Department of Water Resources. A levee is an artificial embankment that keeps a waterway from overflowing..." (italics added-mm)

Newspapers seldom provide such definitions (believing it insults the intellegence of readers?) but doing so certainly aids understanding.