▪ I. fleering, vbl. n.
(ˈflɪərɪŋ)
[f. fleer v. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. fleer.
| 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 962/2 Haue they neuer so fayre a flering at the first face: yet..they bee..farre woorse than noughte. 1570 T. Norton in Udall's Royster D. (1847) p. xli, Their fleering..their whisperings, shewed their hartes. 1669 Penn No Cross xvii. §5 What Laughing, what Fleering, what Mocking of their homely Fashion would there be? 1827 Macaulay Country Clergym. Trip vi, No fleering! no distance! no scorn! 1892 G. S. Layard C. Keene viii. 176 He found little or no pleasure in..the fleering or flouting at a fellow-creature. |
| fig. 1840 Browning Sordello i. 277 He Partook the poppy's red effrontery, Till Autumn spoiled their fleering quite with rain. |
▪ II. fleering, ppl. a.
(ˈflɪərɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That fleers; † grinning, grimacing; † smiling obsequiously; laughing coarsely or scornfully.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1088 Flatt mowthede as a fluke, with fleryande lyppys. Ibid. 2779 Thow ffleryande wryche! c 1450 Holland Howlat lxiv. 820 In come twa flyrand fulis with a fonde fair. a 1529 Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche 152 Fleriing, flatyryng, fals, and fykkelle. 1576 Fleming Caius' Eng. Dogges (1880) 37 This dogge exceedeth all other in..his leering and fleering lookes. 1608 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Giglot, strumpet, a fliering wench. 1673 Dryden Amboyna i. Wks. 1883 V. 18, I do not like these fleering Dutchmen, they overact their kindness. a 1712 W. King Hold Fast Below 19 Says then the fleering spark, with courteous grin..‘Nothing more easy’. 1833 Macaulay Walpole's Lett. Ess. 1854 I. 272 His tone was light and fleering. 1879 Howells L. Aroostook (1883) II. 26 His fleering, drunken laugh. 1890 H. M. Stanley Darkest Africa II. 402 Jeering youths and fleering girls. |
Hence ˈfleeringly adv., in a fleering manner.
| c 1613 Rowlands Paire of Spy-Knaves 3 A purblinde Momus fleeringly will looke, And spie no knaue but's selfe in all the Booke. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. vi. 189 The Jerbin..had looked fleeringly all the Time. 1887 Stevenson Merry Men iv, He saw and recognized us with a toss of one hand fleeringly above his head. |