▪ I. † leer, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 hléor, hl{iacu}or, 2–4 leor, 3–5 ler, lire, 3–6 lere, 4 lure, lewre, 4–6 lyre, 5 lyr, leyre, 5–6 lyer(e, 6–7 leer(e.
[OE. hléor, hl{iacu}or neut. = OS. hleor, hlear, hlier (MDu. liere, MLG. ler), ON. hl{yacu}r (only pl.).
Some scholars have regarded the word as cogn. w. Gr. πλευρόν side; but the z-umlaut in the ON. form indicates an OTeut. type *hleuzo{supm}:—pre-Teut. *kleusóm; E. Zupitza suggests that this is the neuter of an adj. with the sense ‘adjacent to the ear’, f. *kleusó- ear (root *kleu- to hear: see listen).]
1. The cheek.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 86 Gif hwylcum wearᵹbræde weaxe on þam nosum oððe on þam hleore. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 157/8 Malae, hleor. c 1205 Lay. 30266 Urnen þa teres uppen þes kinges leores. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 501 Þe tieres glide of hire lere. c 1300 Havelok 2918 The heu is swilk in hire ler, So the rose in roser. 13.. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LVII. 273 As he eode wiþ leores weete. c 1330 Spec. Gy Warw. 842 Of þin eiȝen þe hote teres Þat goþ adoun bi þine leres. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xiv. (Tollem. MS.), ‘Mala’ is þe lower, and in þe face ben twey lewres þat schetteþ in ayþer side of þe nose. c 1410 Sir Cleges 153 Hys teris..That ran dovn be his lyre. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xxii. 371 This lytel brachet..lyched his learys and his erys. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 33 With tears his lyers ful he blubbred. 1586 J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 106/1 The tears trilling downe his leeres. |
2. The face, countenance; hence, look or appearance (of the face and skin), ‘hue’, complexion. Often in alliterative phrases, as lovely or lovesome of leer, lily leer.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 438 Frons, hleor. a 1000 Guthlac 305 Þonne he to eorðan on þam anade hleor onhylde. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 316 Þi leor is, meiden, lufsum, & ti muð murie. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 52 Hire lure lumes liht, Ase a launterne a nyht. c 1350 Will. Palerne 227 Of lere ne of lykame lik him nas none. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 2 A wyf..That lene was of lere and of liche bothe. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2510 The mayden with lely lire. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxxi. 145 Youre rud that was so red, youre lyre the lylly lyke. a 1529 Skelton E. Rummyng 12 Her lothely lere Is nothynge clere. ― P. Sparowe 1031 The whytnesse of her lere. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 119 Fie trecherous hue, that will betray with blushing The close enacts and counsels of the hart: Heer's a young Lad fram'd of another leere, Looke how the blacke slaue smiles vpon the father. 1806 Jamieson Sir Oluf in Whitelaw Sc. Ballads (1875) 466/1 Whareto is your lire sae blae and wan? |
3. ? Temper, disposition.
(The identity of the word in this example is very doubtful.)
| a 1575 Wyfe Lapped in Morrelles Skin 1109 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 226 Thus endeth the iest of Morels skin, Where the curst wife was lapped in; Because she was of a shrewde leere, Thus was she serued in this maner. |
▪ II. leer, n.2
(lɪə(r))
[f. leer v.]
A side glance; a look or roll of the eye expressive of slyness, malignity, immodest desire, etc.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 50 Shee discourses: shee carues: she giues the leere of inuitation. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 503 Aside the Devil turnd For envie, yet with jealous leer maligne Ey'd them askance. 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. iii. i. Wks. 1728 I. 372 What a Hang-dog Leer was that. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. ii, The fellow has a roguish leer with him, which I don't like by any means. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 201 Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. 1743 Fielding J. Wild iii. vii, She accompanied these words with..so wanton a leer, that [etc.]. 1851 Layard Pop. Acc. Discov. Nineveh xiii. 353 Old Gouriel, the Kiayah, still rejoicing in his drunken leer, was there to receive us. 1863 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gladiators I. 143 A short, square, beetle-browed man, with a villanous leer. |
▪ III. leer, n.3 Glass-making.
(lɪə(r), lɛə(r))
Also lehr. Also 8–9 lear, 9 lier.
a. An annealing-furnace. Also attrib., as lear-annealing; leer-pan = frache.
| 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass 243 The Leer (made by Agricola, the third furnace, to anneal and cool the vessels..) comprehends two parts, the tower and leer. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Furnace, The leer is an avenue five or six yards long, continued to the tower. 1797 P. Wakefield Mental Improv. (1801) I. 143 The lear or third furnace. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VII. 768/2 The third oven or leer. 1832 G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 158 The annealing oven, or lier, is a long low rectangular chamber..furnished with numerous shallow iron trays... These trays are called lier pans, or fraiches. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 579 The cooling or annealing arch, or leer, is often built independent of the glass-house furnace... The leer pans or trays of sheet iron. 1890 Gordon Foundry 140 The tunnel is the ‘lear’, and the process is known as lear-annealing. 1908 W. Rosenhain Glass Manuf. x. 165 The split cylinders are taken to a special kiln, generally known as a ‘lear’, or ‘lehr’, where they are..raised to a dull red-heat. 1918 P. Marson Glass x. 72 These tunnels, or lehrs, are about 40 ft. long. 1937 Nature 18 Dec. 1072/1 There has been a corresponding improvement..in lehrs for annealing the finished product. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 309/1 Among the latter were boys who carried hot glassware from the molds to the leer and toward the end of a shift they began a chant, ‘Ten more trips to the layer O,’ ‘Nine more trips to the layer O,’ and so on... They said ‘layer’ distinctly in two syllables. 1949 Jrnl. Soc. Glass Technol. XXXIII. 287 The term ‘lehr’ to denote an apparatus or plant for the continuous annealing of glass first appeared in factory usage in the U.S.A. between 1890 and 1900. The word arose most probably by corruption of the original form ‘leer’, but whether by accident or design is obscure. 1958 Times 22 Dec. 1/4 (Advt.), Practical experience of design and construction of glass furnace lehrs also essential. 1965 E. Tunis Colonial Craftsmen vi. 139/1 A boy carried the new bottle to the leer where he snapped the punty off its bottom. 1971 Atom May 118/1 A ribbon of glass up to 11 feet wide leaves the float tank and enters the annealing lehr at temperatures in the region of 600°C. |
b. leer man, lehr man, one who works at a leer.
| 1849 A. Pellatt Curiosities of Glass Making 67 The instruction to the lear-man, or fireman, rather to run the risk of melting goods by excess of heat than subject them to fly by insufficient. 1912 G. Sowerby Rutherford & Son 27 The new lear man's shaping all right then. 1965 E. Tunis Colonial Craftsmen vi. 139/1 A leer man stood the bottle on a hot iron tray in the leer. |
Hence ˈleering, treatment in the ‘leer’.
| 1889 Standard 5 Jan. 2/1 The English glass is brighter and better from lead being used, instead of lime, for ‘learing’, the lead ‘learing’ being more expensive. |
▪ IV. † leer, n.4 Obs. exc. dial.
[? repr. OE. lira the fleshy part of the body.]
The flank or loin; the hollow under the ribs.
| 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. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6397/2 Stolen,..a..Mare,..several white Spots on her Body, one larger than the rest on the further Leer. 1746 Exmoor Courtship 355 (E.D.S.) A geed ma a Vulch in tha Leer. 1777 Horæ Subsecivæ 249 (E.D.D.) Under the leer. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Leer, the flank—applied to man and beast. |
▪ V. leer, a.1
(lɪə(r))
Forms: 3–7 (9) lere, 5 ler, 6 leare, 6–7 leere, 7 leir, 7, 9 dial. lear, 9 dial. lair, 4– leer.
[OE. *lǽre (implied in lǽrnes emptiness) = OS., OHG. lâri (MHG. læ̂re, mod.G. leer, MDu. laer, Du. laar):—WGer. *lâri, of uncertain origin; according to some repr. an OTeut. *læ̂zjo-, cogn. w. Goth. lasiws weak.]
† 1. Empty. Also, clear of. Of a burden: Useless. Obs.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1527 [He] haveth attom his riȝte spuse, Wowes weste [an] lere huse. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1800 Þo was bruteine þis lond of romeins al mest lere. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 283 Ȝif þey fyndeþ it [Fortune's horn] empty [v.r. leer], þanne þey makeþ sorwe. Ibid. III. 311 How longe schal a fool bere lere fardelles? 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxv. (1495) 691 The pyth wythin is wasted and therfore the hole is voyde and lere. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 50 Take þin cofyns, & put in þe ovynne lere. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxi. 252 (Harl. MS.) ‘Do gete me’, quod she, ‘a ler tonne, withe oute onye delaye’. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 158 b, Let all your leere pottis [L. vasa inania] stande the mouthe downwarde. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Ep. 16 b, Some lustfull lasse will not permit Achylles coutch be leare. [1864 Sir J. K. James Tasso xix. xxx, Carnage had choked the town, no spot was leer.] |
b. Proposed as a Pathological term.
| 1893 S. Gee Auscult. & Percuss. iii. (ed. 4) 58 Skoda..distinguishes percussion sounds according as they are full or leer. Ibid., note, Skoda's word ‘leer’ is translated by Markham ‘empty’. I formerly suggested ‘scanty’. But indeed the word ‘leer’ needs no translation, for it is English as well as German, and bears the same meaning in both tongues. |
2. Having no burden or load; said also of a horse without a rider. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 413 Þe foot man lere [printed lereþ] synge to fore þe þeef. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 8 Went he leere (quoth Socrates) or els charged with the charge of any burden? 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xxxv. lxiv, The horse runs leere away without the man. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xvii. xi. 94 Leading also after them in hand one lere horse. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) B iv, Bees..that are loaded seeme greater and longer then those that are leere. 1654 ‘Palaemon’ Friendship 32 An Asse,..over burthen'd with his Masters Carriage desired a Horse..led leer by him, to ease him by bearing a Part. 1688 Wood Life 7 Nov., 60 horsmen went thro Oxford,—with leir and sumpter horses. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Leer, empty. Wilts. A leer waggon, an empty waggon. 1886 Tip Cat xv. 199 They were on the top of a load..on their way to the rick-yard, promising to come back in what they call in those parts the ‘leer’ waggon. 1891 Athenæum 22 Aug. 255 In the country between Plymouth and Exeter between forty and fifty years ago any ‘unladen’ cart was familiarly spoken of as a lair or a lairy-cart. |
3. dial. a. Of the stomach: Empty of food. b. Of persons and animals: Having an empty stomach; hungry, faint for want of food.
| 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. i. ii. 83 Then what's the friar to the starving peasant? Just what the abbot is to the greedy noble—A scarecrow to lear wolves. 1853 Akerman Wilts. Tales 97 His bill was zharp, his stomach lear, Zo up a snapped the caddlin pair. 1862 Hughes in Macm. Mag. V. 243/2 'Em be aggravatin' birds, plaguey cunnin' let 'em be never zo lear. 1870 Lady Verney Lettice Lisle 308 Do ye tell Madam to send me a sup o' broth, or summat, I feel so leer. 1878 Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. 15 I'm rather lear at supper. |
| Proverb. 1860 Reade Cloister & H. I. 312 Better a lean purse than a lere stomach. |
▪ VI. † leer, a.2 Obs.
In 7 leare, lere.
[app. f. leer v.]
Looking askance; oblique, indirect; sly, underhand.
| 1629 B. Jonson New Inn iv. i, Ile to bed and sleepe, And dreame away the vapour of Loue, if th' house And your leere drunkards let me. 1633 Earle Microcosm. (Arb.) 103 A Suspitious, or Iealous Man Is one that watches himselfe a mischiefe, and keepes a leare eye still, for feare it should escape him. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 207 He had rather have them bear two Senses in vain and impertinently, than one to the Purpose, and never speaks without a Lere-Sense. Ibid. 459 He has a lere Trick,..to cry down all those Paces which he wants. a 1830 Yng. Musgrave viii. in Child Ballads (1885) II. 249/1 The laddie gae a blythe leer look, A blythe leer look gave he. |
▪ VII. leer, v.
(lɪə(r))
Also 6 lere, 6–7 leare, leere.
[Perh. f. leer n.1 in the sense ‘cheek’; the early examples of the vb. suit well the explanation ‘to glance over one's cheek’.]
1. intr. To look obliquely or askance; to cast side glances. Now only, to look or gaze with a sly, immodest, or malign expression in one's eye. Also with adverbs, as aside, up, back; occas. with clause.
| 1530 Palsgr. 606/2, I leare or lere, as a dogge dothe underneth a doore. Je regarde de longue veue. 1575 Gamm. Gurton i. iii. 32 By chaunce a-syde she leares, And Gyb, our cat, in the milke pan she spied ouer head and eares. 1576 Gascoigne Philomene (Arb.) 106 And now on hir, and then on him, Full lowringly did leare. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 1012 Even as a wolf,..Flyes with down-hanging head, and leareth back Whether the Mastife doo pursue his track. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 7, I will leere vpon him, as he comes by: and do but marke the countenance that hee will giue me. 1647 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. xcv, Here Graculo learing up with one eye View'd the broad Heavens. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 6 Though Dame Fortune seem to smile And leer upon him for a while. 1720 Gay Tales, Mad-dog 35 They leer, they simper at her shame. 1735 Pope Ep. Lady 9 Here Fannia leering on her own good man. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Grace bef. Meat, C.V.L. when importuned for a grace used to inquire, first slily leering down the table, ‘Is there no clergyman here?’ 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. vi. (1858) 310 The foul Satyr's eyes leer out of the leaves constantly. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xix. 218 He passed out through the ante-chamber, leering at the slave-girls. |
| fig. a 1745 Swift (J.), I wonder whether you taste the pleasure of independency, or whether you do not sometimes leer upon the court. |
† 2. To walk stealthily or with averted looks; to slink away. Obs.
| 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 260 He came learing softlye on the other side the hedge. a 1634 Randolph Muses Looking-gl. ii. ii, Who knows but they come learing after us To steale away the substance? 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. ¶144 Methought I saw as if the Tempter did lear and steal away from me, as being ashamed of what he had done. 1678 ― Pilgr. i. (1862) 71, I met him once in the Streets, but he leered away on the other side, as one ashamed of what he had done. 1847–78 Halliwell, Leer, to go or sneak away. North. |
3. trans. a. To give a leer with (the eye).
| 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xi, Leering his eye at his father. 1838 D. Jerrold Men of Char., Matthew Clear ii. (1851) 141 [A parrot] cocking his head, leering his eye, and working his black tongue. |
b. To beguile or reduce to by leering.
| 1681 Dryden Sp. Friar i. 6 But Bertran has been taught the Arts of Court, To guild a Face with Smiles; and leer a man to ruin. |
Hence ˈleering vbl. n.
| 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas iv. ii, Footra for leers, and learings. c 1685 in Roxb. Ballads VII. 426 She knew him a Knave by his learing. |
▪ VIII. leer(e
obs. form of lear n.2