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leer

verb
/lɪə/UK/lɪɹ/US/liə/

Etymology

From Middle English ler, leor (“face, cheek”), from Old English hlēor (“face, cheek, profile”), from Proto-West Germanic *hleuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hleuzą (“ear, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlews- (“temple of the forehead, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Scots lire, lere (“face, appearance, complexion”), Dutch lier (“cheek”), Swedish lyra (“pout”), Norwegian lia (“hillside”), Icelandic hlýr (“the face, cheek, countenance”). Related to Old English hlyst (“sense of hearing, listening”) and hlysnan (“to listen”). More at list, listen.

  1. derived from *ḱlew-✻
  2. derived from *ḱlews-✻ — “temple of the forehead, cheek”
  3. inherited from *hleuzą✻ — “ear, cheek”
  4. inherited from *hleuʀ✻
  5. inherited from hlēor — “face, cheek, profile”
  6. inherited from ler

Definitions

  1. To look sideways or obliquely

    To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent.

    • And she looked to Mr. –––– / And leered like a love-sick pigeon.
    • I thought I saw him leer in an ugly way at me while the decanters were going round, but as there was no love lost between us, that might easily be.

  2. To entice with a leer or leers.

    • But Bertran has been taught the Arts of Court, / To guild a Face with Smiles; and leer a man to ruin.

  3. A significant side glance

    A significant side glance; a glance expressive of some passion, as malignity, amorousness, etc.; a sly or lecherous look.

    • Nevertheless humanity stood before him no longer in the pensive sweetness of Italian art, but in the staring and ghastly attitudes of a Wiertz Museum, and with the leer of a study by Van Beers.
    • “[…]They say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him. He hasn’t changed much since then. I have, though,” she added, with a sickly leer.
  4. ›+ 20 more definitions

    1. An arch or affected glance or cast of countenance.

    2. The cheek.

      • No ladie (quoth the earle with a lowd voice, and the tears trilling downe his leeres)

    3. The face.

    4. One's appearance

      One's appearance; countenance.

      • a Rosalind of a better leer than you

    5. Complexion

      Complexion; hue; colour.

      • Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer. Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father;

    6. Flesh

      Flesh; skin.

    7. The flank or loin.

    8. Empty

      Empty; unoccupied; clear.

      • The horse runs leere away without the man.

    9. Destitute

      Destitute; lacking; wanting.

    10. Faint from lack of food

      Faint from lack of food; hungry.

    11. Thin

      Thin; faint.

    12. Having no load or burden

      Having no load or burden; free; without a rider.

      • a leer horse

    13. Lacking sense or seriousness

      Lacking sense or seriousness; trifling; frivolous.

      • leer words

    14. To teach.

    15. To learn.

    16. Alternative form of lehr.

    17. A town and rural district of Lower Saxony, Germany.

    18. A small hamlet in Long Rapids Township, Alpena County, Michigan.

    19. A town, the county seat of Leer County, Unity State, South Sudan.

    20. A county of Unity State, South Sudan.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for leer. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA