leer

¹

[ leer ]

verb (used without object)

1. to look with a sideways or oblique glance, especially suggestive of lascivious interest or sly and malicious intent:

   Go away! I can't concentrate with you leering at me.

noun

1. a lascivious or sly look.

leer

²

[ leer ]

adjective

, British Dialect.

1. having no burden or load.
2. faint for lack of food; hungry.

leer

/ lɪə /

verb

1. intr to give an oblique, sneering, or suggestive look or grin

noun

1. such a look

Derived Forms

• ˈleering, adjectivenoun
• ˈleeringly, adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of leer¹

First recorded in 1520–30; perhaps verb use of obsolete noun leer “cheek” ( Middle English leor, Old English hlēor; cognate with Old Norse hlȳr (plural))

Origin of leer²

before 1050; Middle English lere, Old English gelǣr; cognate with German leer empty

Word History and Origins

Origin of leer¹

C16: perhaps verbal use of obsolete leer cheek, from Old English hlēor

Example Sentences

Por ejemplo, Sheinbaum Pardo comenzó a alentar fuertemente a las personas a usar mascarillas para reducir las infecciones después de leer un artículo sobre el tema del químico mexicano y premio nobel Mario Molina, incluso cuando la administración de López Obrador planteaba dudas sobre estas medidas.

From Science Magazine

She gets the funniest, meanest comebacks and holds the screen like a woman in command, even when she allows the film to leer.

From Los Angeles Times

Men were less likely to leer or make vulgar comments when we ran in a homogenous mass of sinewy calves and swinging ponytails.

From Salon

But the style we chose for "Para Leer al Pato Donald" was as insolent, raucous and carnivalesque as the Chilean revolution itself.

From Salon

Among the victims of that military putsch were a number of books, including "Para Leer al Pato Donald," which I saw — on television, no less — being burnt by soldiers.

From Salon