Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Leer

Leer (lēr), v. t. To learn. [Obs.] See Lere, to learn.

Leer, a. [OE. lere; akin to G. leer, OHG. & OS. lāri.] [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Empty; destitute; wanting; as: (a) Empty of contents. "A leer stomach." Gifford. (b) Destitute of a rider; and hence, led, not ridden; as, a leer horse. B. Jonson. (c) Wanting sense or seriousness; trifling; trivolous; as, leer words.

Leer, n. An oven in which glassware is annealed.

Leer, n. [OE. lere cheek, face, look, AS. hleór cheek, face; akin to OS. hlear, hlior, OD. lier, Icel. hlȳr.] 1. The cheek. [Obs.] Holinshed.

2. Complexion; aspect; appearance. [Obs.]

A Rosalind of a better leer than you. Shak.

3. A distorted expression of the face, or an indirect glance of the eye, conveying a sinister or immodest suggestion.

With jealous leer malign Eyed them askance. Milton.

She gives the leer of invitation. Shak.

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. Pope.

Leer, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Leered (lērd); p. pr. & vb. n. Leering.] 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.

I will leerupon him as a' comes by. Shak.

The priest, above his book, Leering at his neighbor's wife. Tennyson.

Leer, v. t. To entice with a leer, or leers; as, to leer a man to ruin. Dryden.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.