leathern

English

Etymology

From Middle English letheren, from Old English leþeren, leþern, leþren, liþeren, liþren, lidrin (“made of leather, leathern”), from Proto-Germanic *liþrīnaz (“of leather, leathern”), equivalent to leather +‎ -en. Cognate with Scots letherin, lethrin, West Frisian learen, Dutch lederen, leren (“leathern”), German ledern (“leathern”).

Adjective

leathern (not comparable)

1. (dated) Made of leather.

   Synonym: (more current) leather

   • 1806 [c. 20 BC], Robert Arrol (translator), Cornelii Neoptis Vitæ Excellentium Imperatorum, translation of De viris illustribus by Cornelius Nepos:

     For the doing of this matter, he ordered a great many leathern bottles and sacks to be got together; […]

   • (Can we date this quote?), Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia

     He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf — our crug — moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.

   • 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Warlord of Mars‎^[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     Except for his leathern harness, covered thick with jewels and metal […]