▪ I. lire, n.1 Obs. exc. Sc. and north. dial.
(laɪə(r))
Forms: 1 l{iacu}ra, 4–7 lyre, 4–5 Sc. lyr, (4 lere), 3– lire.
[OE. l{iacu}ra wk. masc., of obscure origin.]
Flesh, muscle, brawn.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 216 Þa liran þara lendena sariað. Ibid. II. 264 Breost ablawen & sar þeoh & lira. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 159/8 Pulpa, uel uiscum, lira. a 1225 Juliana 58 As þat istelet irn to limede hire ant te leac lið ba ant lire. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 8202 (Kölbing) For he carf man & stiel & ire, So flesche hewer doþ flesches lire. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxviii. (Adrian) 504 Scho wald haf ronnyne in þe fire, til half brynt hir bane & lyr. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 146 He dide next his white leere Of clooth of lake fyn and cleere A breech and eek a sherte. ? c 1390 Form of Cury (1780) 12 Take the lire of Pork and grynd it smal. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 1899 Lybeauus..smot of hys theygh, Fell, and bone, and lyre. 1483 Cath. Angl. 218 Lyre of flesche, pulpa. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iv. 35 The haill bowkis of beistis, bane and lyre. 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith vi. (1608) 95 Ther was no sinew, Arter, vaine, nor lyre, That was not mangled with their vulgar rage. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xxi. iv. (1620) 786 A boiled Peacock was serued in and I..tooke some of the Lyre of the breast. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. VI. 133 He never observed..the hook, which indeed was buried in the lire. a 1835 J. R. Wilson Tales of Borders (1837) III. 304/2 He was nae feckless smaik that, either in bane, limb, or lire. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Lire, the flesh of an animal, or rather the increasing substance as it grows bulky. ‘There's a fair deal o' lire about it.’ |
Hence ˈliry a. Obs. exc. dial. Fleshy.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 218/1 Lyrye, pulposus. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v. Lire, ‘Quite liry’, well fleshed. |
▪ II. lire, n.2 rare—1.
[App. due to some mistake on Scott's part, perh. a confused recollection of litre.]
A supposed old French measure. (The glossaries of recent edd. say ‘a pint’.)
| 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxiv, ‘If you want a confessor’, said Trois-Eschelles—‘Or a lire of wine’, said his facetious companion. |
▪ III. † lire, lier, v. Obs.
[f. *lire, *lier, lear2.]
trans. To thicken with a ‘lear’ (see lear2 2).
| 15.. Wyl Bucke his Test. (Copland) B ij b, Take blode of a good shepe..& drawe hit with the brede & lier vp thy pot therwith but not to thicke. Ibid. Lire him vp with crustes of brede, drawne with wine. |
▪ IV. lire
var. leer n.1 Obs.; obs. form of lyre.
▪ V. lire
pl. and obs. sing. form of lira.