▪ I. † ˈlairy, n. Obs. rare—0.
In 6 layrie, 7 lairie.
| 1598 Florio, Couata,..any birds hatching or sitting, a nestfull, a layrie [1611 lairie], an eyas. |
▪ II. lairy, a.1
(ˈlɛərɪ)
Also 4 lay(e)ry.
[f. lair n.2 + -y1.]
† a. Earthly, filthy (obs.). b. Boggy, miry, swampy.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii[i]. 36 [32], I lepe ouer all þe thorny and þe lairy besynes of þis warld. c 1340 ― Prose Tr. (1866) 13 All þat it duellis in it lyftes abowne layery lustes and vile couaytes. 17.. Donald & Flora 19 (Jam.) Did ony [ewes]..Come near the lairy springs. 1855 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 724 Lairy (Scot.) wet, swampy. 1897 Crockett Lads' Love xxix. 290 Wallowing mid-thigh in the lairy depths of the Muckle Flowe. |
▪ III. lairy, a.2
(ˈlɛərɪ)
Also lary.
[ad. leery a.2]
1. Cockney slang. Knowing, ‘fly’, conceited.
| 1846 Swell's Night Guide 78 Lairy and cautious to the green ones, never too fast. 1933 J. Masefield Conway 211 Lairy, slow, slack; also cunning. 1945 B. Naughton in C. Madge Pilot Papers 99 We'll have to keep an eye on him. Spivs are lary perishers. Anything goes wrong they'll never risk their own skin. Ibid. 108 They appear to be mentally quicker than most young men: (‘Lary’ is the word they use for it). 1958 News Chron. 23 May 4/7 If someone..is conceited he's lairy. 1967 Spectator 4 Aug. 130/3 What I was getting at—before that lairy loon butted in about his thumb—was this. Down the East End we're overcrowded an' we're bleedin' poor. |
2. Also leary, leery. Flashily dressed; vulgar. Austral. slang.
In quot. 1906 used as quasi-adv.
| 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xii. 160 Found drownded with a bloke what done-up 'is 'air dead leary. 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke 125 Leery, vulgar; low. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xxiv. 258 Then climbed..Jack the Ripper on to Tugboat Annie, his hat at a leery angle, and the pommel leerier still. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 42 Lairy, vulgar, flashily or showily dressed. 1966 B. Beaver You can't come Back (1968) 146, I just stood still under the big lairy neon, chuckling a bit and trying to roll a smoke. |