fleer
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English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Possibly from a Scandinavian source, compare Norwegian bokmål flire (“to giggle”), Jutish Danish flire.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]fleer (third-person singular simple present fleers, present participle fleering, simple past and past participle fleered)
- (archaic) To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn
- Synonyms: deride, sneer, mock, gibe; see also Thesaurus:deride
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act 5, scene 1:
- LEONATO. Tush, tush, man! never fleer and jest at me:
I speak not like a dotard nor a fool,
As, under privilege of age, to brag
What I have done being young, or what would do,
Were I not old.
- 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History:
- [I]n short, sneering and fleering at him in her cold barren way[.]
- (archaic) To grin with an air of civility; to leer.
- Synonyms: fligger; see also Thesaurus:to smile
- 1552, Hugh Latimer, The Fifth Sermon Preached on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Trinity, 1552; republished in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, and Constant Martyr of Jesus Christ, Hugh Latimer, Some Time Bishop of Worcester, volume 2, London: James Duncan, 1824, page 212:
- In the time of popery, before the gospel came amongst us, we went to burials with weeping and wailing, as though there were no God: but since the gospel came unto us, I have heard say, that in some places they go with the corses grinning and flearing, as though they went to a bear-baiting; […]
Translations
[edit]to make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn
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Noun
[edit]fleer (uncountable)
- (archaic) Mockery; derision.
- 1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, visiting me in my sickness:
- […] And flattery tipt with nauseous fleer,
And guilty shame, and servile fear,
Envy, and cruelty, and pride,
Will in your tainted heart preside.
Etymology 2
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈfliːə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -iːə(ɹ)
Noun
[edit]fleer (plural fleers)
- One who flees.
- 1598, R. Grenewey, Annales, translation of original by Tacitus:
- Which fear of the fleers away was no less ignominious, then if […] they had turned their backs to the enemie.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɪə(ɹ)/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
- Rhymes:English/iːə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/iːə(ɹ)/1 syllable
- English countable nouns
- English heteronyms