▪ I. jeer, n.1 Naut.
(dʒɪə(r))
Forms: 5 iere, 7 ieare, ieere, 7–8 gear, 8–9 geer, jear, 7– jeer.
[Origin unascertained.]
Tackle for hoisting and lowering the lower yards. (Usually in pl.)
| 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 188 Jeres for the Mayne takell. Ibid. 206 There is employed..iij hausers of vj ynch compas for makyng of ij mayne liftes and a mayne Jere. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 15 The cat harpings, a Ieare, leatch lines. 1672 Narborough Jrnl. 9 Sept., Captain Fowles comander of his Mastie Ann was dismissed from his comande for beatinge one M{supr} Murfeild comander of a collier at the Jers. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. 34 He was lash'd to the Main-Geers and drub'd. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 87, I caused him to be brought to the gears, with a halter about his neck, and be soundly whipped. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 320 Jears, lifts, and brails, a seaman each attends. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 24 How will you reeve the jeers? They are usually rove with a reeving line, a becket is fitted in one end of the reeving line, and both ends of the jeers. |
b. Comb., as jeer-bitt, jeer-block, jeer-capstan, jeer-pulley.
| 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 203 Jere poleyes vith a shyver of Brasse. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 13 A Ieare capsterne is only in great ships to hoyse their sayles. 1706 Phillips, Jeer, or Jeer-Rope, a piece of Hawser made fast to the Main-Yard and Fore-Yard in great Ships, its use being to help to hoise up the Yard. 1768 J. Byron Narr. Patagonia (ed. 2) 8 The straps of the fore jeer blocks breaking, the fore-yard came down. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Jeer-bitts, those to which the jeers are fastened and belayed. |
▪ II. jeer, n.2
(dʒɪə(r))
Forms: see jeer v.
[f. next.]
1. An act of jeering; a derisive speech or utterance; a scoff, flout, gibe, taunt.
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. iv. i, Fitt. Madrigall, a ieere! Mad. I know. 1642 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 82 [Lord Hotham] sending y⊇ town a jear y{supt} wn he comes he finds y{supm} still in their beds. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. vii. 159 An impudent and unseasonable jeer, ‘Had Zimri peace that slew his Master?’ 1686 W. Aglionby Painting Illustr. 145 Half afraid he had put a Jear upon him, and that he should be Laughed at. 1729 Swift Grand quest. debated 187 But the Dean, if this secret should come to his ears, Will never have done with his gibes and his jeers. 1821 Byron Sardan. i. ii. 366 With his savage jeers. 1880 Spurgeon J. Ploughm. Pict. 16 A blow is much sooner forgotten than a jeer. |
† b. The action of jeering; mockery, scoffing, derision. Obs.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 388 The statue of the Sun..a Spaniard took and gam'd away in a night, whereupon one said by way of jeer, that he had plaid away the Sun before he was up. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 4 With the utmost extremity of Jeere, Disdain, and Indignation. 1753 L. M. tr. Du Boscq's Accompl. Woman I. 228 Socrates was naturally given to jeer and railing. |
† 2. Phr. in a jeer, (?) in a huff, in a pet. Obs.
| 1579–80 North Plutarch, Cicero (1895) V. 341 This Nepos..being Tribune, left in a geere [ed. 2 iear] the exercise of his office, and went into Syria to Pompey, upon no occasion: and as fondly againe he returned thence upon a sodaine. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1633 Shirley Triumph Peace 266 Yet there be some..mean to show Themselves jeer majors: some tall critics have Planted artillery and wit-murderers. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 363 That he may have the benefit of his own jeer-prayers to himself. |
▪ III. jeer, v.
(dʒɪə(r))
Forms: 6 geare, gyre, gyere, 6–7 geere, giere, 7 geer, jear(e, jeere, 7– jeer.
[Origin unascertained: appears c 1550.
(Among derivations which have been suggested, are Ger. scheren to shear, fig. to plague, tease, vex (cf. Du. gekscheren ‘to shear the fool’, to jest, banter); Du. gieren ‘stridere, strepere’ (Kilian), ‘to cry, to roar, or bray’ (Hexham), ‘cum stridore et strepitu alicui illudere’ (Junius); both of these show some similarity of sense, but, phonologically, jeer could only be an illiterate corruption of either. On the French side giries, in Norman patois ‘grimaces, affectations hypocritiques’, in Rouchi ‘tromperie, mauvaise plaisanterie’, has been suggested as allied; but it is obvious that this is inadequate to account for the Eng. verb. A suggestion that jeer may have originated in an ironical use of cheer is plausible and phonetically feasible (cf. jass, jawn), but lies beyond existing evidence.)]
1. intr. To speak or call out in derision or mockery; to scoff derisively. Const. at.
| 1553 [implied in jeerer]. 1561 [see jeering vbl. n.]. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1146/2 Some papists resorted thither to geere at him, some of his friends to mourne for him. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 264 b, Therefore this Portingall Pasquill doth giere at Haddon by way of mockage. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 21 But when he saw her toy, and gibe, and geare, And passe the bonds of modest merimake, Her dalliaunce he despis'd. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 430 Ishmael giereth at Isaac. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. v. 125 Smile good Reader, but doe not jeer at my curiosity herein. a 1771 Gray Char. Christ Cross Row, Here Grub-street Geese presume to joke and jeer. 1887 Spectator 21 May 675/1 The meeting only jeered at him, and he was unable to make his voice heard. |
2. trans. To address or treat with scornful derision; to deride, flout, openly mock or scoff at.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 22 Yea, dost thou ieere & flowt me in the teeth? 1633 Prynne Histrio-m. Ep. Ded., Do they not deride and jeare religion? c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. lxx. 108, I am heer for my good qualities as your cosin Fortescue geer'd me not long since. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. ii, Some odd humours..for which John would jeer her. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 190, I jeer my weakness, painfully repent. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xli. 351 The mob pelted him and jeered him by his assumed name of King Arthur. |
3. quasi-trans. To drive (into, out of, etc., something) by jeering.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Staffordsh. (1662) iii. 47 A Fool of Mans making, jeered into it by general Dirision. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 5 So far from being jeered out of our religion, that [etc.]. a 1810 Tannahill Poet. Wks. (1846) 20 I'll jeer my ancient wooer hame. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike viii. 88 They would jeer me off the stand. |