leer definition | Dictionary.com

leer

1 [leer]

–verb (used without object)

1.	to look with a sideways or oblique glance, esp. suggestive of lascivious interest or sly and malicious intention: I can't concentrate with you leering at me.

–noun

2.	a lascivious or sly look.

Origin:
1520–30; perh. v. use of obs. leer cheek (ME leor, OE hlēor; c. ON hlȳr (pl.))

Related forms:

leer⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

leer

2 [leer]

–adjective British Dialect.

1.	having no burden or load.

2.	faint for lack of food; hungry.

Origin:
bef. 1050; ME lere, OE gelǣr; c. G leer empty

leer

3 [leer]

–noun

lehr.

lee

1 [lee]

–noun

1.	protective shelter: The lee of the rock gave us some protection against the storm.

2.	the side or part that is sheltered or turned away from the wind: We erected our huts under the lee of the mountain.

3.	Chiefly Nautical. the quarter or region toward which the wind blows.

–adjective

4.	pertaining to, situated in, or moving toward the lee.

—Idioms

5.	by the lee, Nautical. accidentally against what should be the lee side of a sail: Careless steering brought the wind by the lee.

6.	under the lee, Nautical. to leeward.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE hlēo(w) shelter, c. OFris hli, hly, OS hleo, ON hlé

lehr

[leer, lair]

–noun

an oven used to anneal glass.

Also, leer.

Origin:
1905–10; < G Lehr, Leer model

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To leer

leer (lîr)

intr.v. leered, leer·ing, leers
To look with a sidelong glance, indicative especially of sexual desire or sly and malicious intent.
n. A desirous, sly, or knowing look.

[Probably from obsolete leer, cheek, from Middle English ler, from Old English hlēor; see kleu- in Indo-European roots.]
leer'ing·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Leer

Leer\ (l[=e]r), v. t. To learn. [Obs.] See Lere, to learn.

Leer

Leer\, a. [OE. lere; akin to G. leer, OHG. & OS. l[=a]ri.] [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Empty; destitute; wanting; as: (a) Empty of contents. "A leer stomach." --Gifford. (b) Destitute of a rider; and hence, led, not ridden; as, a leer horse. --B. Jonson. (c) Wanting sense or seriousness; trifling; trivolous; as, leer words.

Leer

Leer\, n. An oven in which glassware is annealed.

Leer

Leer\, n. [OE. lere cheek, face, look, AS. hle['o]r cheek, face; akin to OS. hlear, hlior, OD. lier, Icel. hl[=y]r.]

1. The cheek. [Obs.] --Holinshed.

2. Complexion; aspect; appearance. [Obs.]

A Rosalind of a better leer than you. --Shak.

3. A distorted expression of the face, or an indirect glance of the eye, conveying a sinister or immodest suggestion.

With jealous leer malign Eyed them askance. --Milton.

She gives the leer of invitation. --Shak.

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. --Pope.

Leer

Leer\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Leered (l[=e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Leering.] To look with a leer; to look askance with a suggestive expression, as of hatred, contempt, lust, etc.; to cast a sidelong lustful or malign look.

I will leerupon him as a' comes by. --Shak.

The priest, above his book, Leering at his neighbor's wife. --Tennyson.

Leer

Leer\, v. t. To entice with a leer, or leers; as, to leer a man to ruin. --Dryden.

Language Translation for : leer

Spanish: mirada lasciva,

German: gehässiges Lächeln, gehässiger Seitenblick,

Japanese: 色目

More Translations »

leer (v.)

"to look obliquely" (now usually implying "with a lustful or malicious intent"), 1530, from M.E. noun ler "cheek," from O.E. hleor "the cheek, the face," from P.Gmc. *khleuzas "near the ear," from *kleuso- "ear," from PIE root *kleu- "to hear" (see listen). The notion is probably of "looking askance" (cf. figurative development of cheek). The noun is first attested 1598.

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