▪ I. † feir Obs. Sc.
Also 4–6 fere, 5, 7 feare, 6 fier.
[aphet. f. effeir.]
Appearance, demeanour, look, show; = affere (affair 6), effeir n. 2.
| c 1440 Gaw. & Gol. xiii, He wes ladlike of lait, and light of his fere. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 101 Tell me his feyr, and how I sall him knaw. c 1500 Felon Sowe Rokeby in Whitaker Hist. Craven (1805) 418 Scho rase up with a felon fere. 1528 Lyndesay Dream 447 Quha wald behauld his countynance and feir, Mycht call hym, weill, the god of men of weir. |
b. in feir of war: in martial array.
| 1449 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1597) §25 Gif onie man..risis in feire of weir against him [the King]. 1550 Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 1231 Thrie scoir..Accowterit weill in feir of weir. c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 215 The Queen made proclamation..that all men should be at her in Fier of War. |
c. pl. Gestures, ways, ‘points’ of a person's exterior.
| c 1375 Barbour Troy-bk. ii. 2501 He kend him be his feris. Ibid. ii. 3003 With brokine speche and with waik feris. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. ix. 14 Bot he was Greik be all his vthir feris. a 1548 Thrie Priests of Peblis in Pinkerton Scot. Poems (1792) I. 19 He feinyeit him ane fule, fond in his feris. |
▪ II. feir
var. fere v. Obs. to appertain, be proper.
▪ III. feir
obs. and Sc. form of fear.