See also: Leer, lêer, and leër

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Exact development uncertain, but apparently from a verb *leer (to make a face), from leer (face).

VerbEdit

leer (third-person singular simple present leers, present participle leering, simple past and past participle leered)

  1. (intransitive) To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent.
    • 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:
      And she looked to Mr. –––– / And leered like a love-sick pigeon.
    • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in Great Expectations [], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, [], published October 1861, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1878, Henry James, chapter VI, in The Europeans[1], Macmillan and Co.:
      The Baroness perceived that her entertainer had analyzed material comfort to a sufficiently fine point. And then he possessed the most delightful chinoiseries—trophies of his sojourn in the Celestial Empire: pagodas of ebony and cabinets of ivory; sculptured monsters, grinning and leering on chimney-pieces, in front of beautifully figured hand-screens; []
    • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XVIII, in A Tramp Abroad; [], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      It was a quarter well stocked with deformed, leering, unkempt and uncombed idiots, who held out hands or caps and begged piteously.
    • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XIII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
      “Hush! Don’t say that. You have done enough evil in your life. My God! Don’t you see that accursed thing leering at us?”
  2. (transitive) To entice with a leer or leers.
    • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. [], London: [] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC, Act I, page 6:
      But Bertran has been taught the Arts of Court, / To guild a Face with Smiles; and leer a man to ruin.
ConjugationEdit
TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

leer (plural leers)

  1. A significant side glance; a glance expressive of some passion, as malignity, amorousness, etc.; a sly or lecherous look.
  2. An arch or affected glance or cast of countenance.
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English ler, leor (face, cheek), from Old English hlēor (face, cheek, profile), from Proto-Germanic *hleuzą (ear, cheek), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlews- (temple of the forehead, cheek), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewe-, *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.

Alternative formsEdit

NounEdit

leer (plural leers)

  1. (obsolete) The cheek.
  2. (obsolete) The face.
  3. (obsolete) One's appearance; countenance.
  4. (obsolete) Complexion; hue; colour.
  5. (obsolete) Flesh; skin.
  6. (UK dialectal) The flank or loin.

Etymology 3Edit

From Middle English lere, from Old English ġelǣr, *lǣre (empty, void, empty-handed), from Proto-Germanic *lēziz, *lēzijaz (empty), from Proto-Indo-European *les- (to collect, pick). Cognate with Dutch laar (a clearing in the woods), German leer (empty). Related to Old English lesan (to gather, collect). More at lease.

Alternative formsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

leer (comparative more leer, superlative most leer)

  1. (obsolete) Empty; unoccupied; clear.
    • 1591, John Harington, Orlando Furioso:
      The horse runs leere away without the man.
  2. (obsolete) Destitute; lacking; wanting.
  3. (obsolete) Faint from lack of food; hungry.
  4. (UK dialectal, obsolete) Thin; faint.
  5. (obsolete) Having no load or burden; free; without a rider.
    • 1629 (first performance), B[en] Jonson, The Nevv Inne. Or, The Light Heart. [], London: [] Thomas Harper, for Thomas Alchorne, [], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page, or act number in uppercase Roman numerals), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      a leer horse
  6. (obsolete) Lacking sense or seriousness; trifling; frivolous.
    leer words
Derived termsEdit

Etymology 4Edit

From Middle English leren, from Old English lǣran (to teach, instruct, guide, enjoin, advise, persuade, urge, preach, hand down), from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną (to teach), from Proto-Indo-European *leis- (track, footprint, furrow, trace). Cognate with Dutch leren (to teach), German lehren (to teach), Swedish lära (to teach). Related to Old English lār (lore, learning, science, art of teaching, preaching, doctrine, study, precept, exhortation, advice, instigation, history, story, cunning). See lore.

VerbEdit

leer (third-person singular simple present leers, present participle leering, simple past and past participle leered)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To teach.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To learn.

Etymology 5Edit

See lehr.

NounEdit

leer (plural leers)

  1. Alternative form of lehr

AnagramsEdit

AfrikaansEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Dutch leren, from Middle Dutch lêren, from Old Dutch lēren, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną.

VerbEdit

leer (present leer, present participle lerende, past participle geleer)

  1. To learn.

Etymology 2Edit

From Dutch leer, from Middle Dutch lêre, from Old Dutch lēra, from Proto-Germanic *laizō.

NounEdit

leer (uncountable)

  1. A teaching.

Etymology 3Edit

From Dutch leer, from older leder, from Middle Dutch lēder, from Old Dutch *lether, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą.

NounEdit

leer (uncountable)

  1. leather

Etymology 4Edit

From Dutch leer (dialectal synonym of ladder), from Middle Dutch leer.

NounEdit

leer (plural lere)

  1. A ladder.
DescendantsEdit
  • Sotho: lere
  • Xhosa: ileli

DanishEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

leer c

  1. indefinite plural of le

DutchEdit

 
Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Contraction of leder, from Middle Dutch leder, from Old Dutch *lether, from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą.

NounEdit

leer n (uncountable)

  1. Leather.
    Synonym: leder
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle Dutch lêre, from Old Dutch lēra, from Proto-Germanic *laizō.

NounEdit

leer f (plural leren, diminutive leertje n)

  1. A doctrine.
  2. Theory, teachings.
  3. A field of learning; set of lessons and theory on a subject within a discipline.
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

From Middle Dutch leer, contraction of ledere.

NounEdit

leer f (plural leren)

  1. (dialectal, dated) Alternative form of ladder.
DescendantsEdit

Etymology 4Edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

VerbEdit

leer

  1. first-person singular present indicative of leren
  2. imperative of leren

AnagramsEdit

EstonianEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Low German leger, lager. Etymological twin of laager.

NounEdit

leer (genitive leeri, partitive leeri)

  1. A camp
  2. A side (in a conflict)
    Ta on vastaste leeris
    He's on the enemies' side.
DeclensionEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle Low German lere (study, learning).

NounEdit

leer (genitive leeri, partitive leeri)

  1. A (protestant) confirmation into the faithful community.
DeclensionEdit

GermanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle High German lēr, lēre, lǣre, from Old High German lāri, from Proto-West Germanic *lāʀi, from Proto-Germanic *lēziz. Cognate with Dutch laar, English leer.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

leer (strong nominative masculine singular leerer, comparative leerer, superlative am leersten)

  1. empty
    Antonyms: voll, gefüllt

DeclensionEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

VerbEdit

leer

  1. singular imperative of leeren
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of leeren

Further readingEdit

  • leer” in Duden online
  • leer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Norwegian BokmålEdit

VerbEdit

leer

  1. present tense of lee

Pennsylvania GermanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle High German lǣre, from Old High German lāri. Compare German leer.

AdjectiveEdit

leer

  1. empty

RomanschEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin aēr, with the initial 'l' added from a preceding definite article.

NounEdit

leer m

  1. (Sutsilvan) air

SynonymsEdit

  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) aria
  • (Puter, Vallader) ajer

SpanishEdit

Sense 1

EtymologyEdit

From Latin legere (to read, gather, choose), from Proto-Italic *legō, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-. Related with English legend, legible, lesson.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /leˈeɾ/ [leˈeɾ]
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɾ
  • Syllabification: le‧er

VerbEdit

leer (first-person singular present leo, first-person singular preterite leí, past participle leído)

  1. to read
    • [] y llegó a tanto su curiosidad y desatino en esto, que vendió muchas hanegas de tierra de sembradura para comprar libros de caballerías en que leer, y, así, llevó a su casa todos cuantos pudo haber dellos.
      [] to such a pitch did his eagerness and infatuation go that he sold many an acre of tillage land to buy books of chivalry to read, and brought home as many of them as he could get.
    Quiero leer el periódico.
    I want to read the newspaper.
    Léase también la Orden General núm. 8.
    Also read General Order No. 8.
    Synonym: (Belize) ridear

ConjugationEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

Further readingEdit