Leer
[lɪə] or [lɪr]
Definition
(noun.) a suggestive or sneering look or grin.
(verb.) look suggestively or obliquely; look or gaze with a sly, immodest, or malign expression; 'The men leered at the young women on the beach'.
Inputed by Kirsten--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To learn.
(a.) Empty; destitute; wanting
(a.) Empty of contents.
(a.) Destitute of a rider; and hence, led, not ridden; as, a leer horse.
(a.) Wanting sense or seriousness; trifling; trivolous; as, leer words.
(n.) An oven in which glassware is annealed.
(n.) The cheek.
(n.) Complexion; aspect; appearance.
(n.) A distorted expression of the face, or an indirect glance of the eye, conveying a sinister or immodest suggestion.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. t.) To entice with a leer, or leers; as, to leer a man to ruin.
Checker: Lyman
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Look askance (in contempt).
Checked by Aurora
Definition
n. a sly sidelong look: (Shak.) complexion colour.—v.i. to look askance: to look archly or obliquely.—adv. Leer′ingly with a leering look.
Edited by Eileen
Examples
- 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. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- The fat youth gave a semi-cannibalic leer at Mr. Weller, as he thought of the roast legs and gravy. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- There was a kind of leer about his lips; he seemed laughing in his sleeve at some person or thing; his whole air was anything but that of a true man. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- I hope I am, sir,' said Mr. Gamfield, with an ugly leer. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- As she glanced down into the yard, she saw Pancks come in and leer up with the corner of his eye as he went by. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Pray, said I, as the two odious casts with the twitchy leer upon them caught my sight again, whose likenesses are those? Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- The man on the other side of the half-door, was a waterside-man with a squinting leer, and he eyed her as if he were one of her pupils in disgrace. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And the old man rubbed his hands, and leered as if in delight at having found another point of view in which to place his favourite subject. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- He jumped up, and the leaden eyes which twinkled behind his mountainous cheeks leered horribly upon the food as he unpacked it from the basket. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- They paid her tipsy compliments; they leered at her over the dinner-table. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Miss Abbey knitted her brow at him, as he darkly leered at her. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The old man looked round the table, and leered more horribly than ever, as if in triumph, at the attention which was depicted in every face. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Look at me, I'm not very fur from fowr-score--he, he; and he laughed, and took snuff, and leered at her and pinched her hand. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The goblin leered maliciously at the terrified sexton, and then raising his voice, exclaimed-- '“And who, then, is our fair and lawful prize? Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- He undid it slowly, leering and laughing at me, before he began to turn them over, and threw it there. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And all this with such a sneering, leering, insolent face that I would have knocked him down twenty times over if he had been a man of my own age. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- And he jumped on the bus, and I saw his ugly face leering at me with a wicked smile to think how he'd had the last word of plaguing. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Get away, said Jos Sedley, quite pleased, and leering up at the maid-servant in question with a most killing ogle. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Inputed by Camille