Leather

Leath′er (lĕt͟h′ẽr), n. [OE. lether, AS. leðer; akin to D. leder, leêr, G. leder, OHG. ledar, Icel. leðr, Sw. läder, Dan. læder.] 1. The skin of an animal, or some part of such skin, tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for use; also, dressed hides, collectively.

2. The skin. [Ironical or Sportive]

☞ Leather is much used adjectively in the sense of made of, relating to, or like, leather.

Leather board, an imitation of sole leather, made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc. — Leather carp (Zoöl.) , a variety of carp in which the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under Carp. — Leather jacket. (Zoöl.) (a) A California carangoid fish (Oligoplites saurus). (b) A trigger fish (Balistes Carolinensis). — Leather flower (Bot.), a climbing plant (Clematis Viorna) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery sepals of a purplish color. — Leather leaf (Bot.), a low shrub (Cassandra calyculata), growing in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy leaves. — Leather plant (Bot.), one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus Celmisia, which have white or buff tomentose leaves. — Leather turtle. (Zoöl.) See Leatherback. — Vegetable leather. (a) An imitation of leather made of cotton waste. (b) Linen cloth coated with India rubber. Ure.

Leath′er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leathered; p. pr. & vb. n. Leathering.] To beat, as with a thong of leather. [Obs. or Colloq.] G. Eliot.