5 entries under this word
[imp. & p. p. LEERED; p. pr. & vb. n. LEERING.] [From the noun. Cf. O. D. loeren, to look askance.] To look obliquely; to turn the eye and cast a look from a corner, either in contempt, defiance, or frowning, or with sly allurement.
I will leer upon him as he comes by. Shak.
To allure with smiles. “To gild a face with smiles, and leer a man to ruin.” Dryden.
n. [A-S. hleor, hleor, the cheek, face, countenance; O. Sax. hlear, O. D. lier, Icel. hlyr. Cf. Icel. litr, color, lita, to tinge.]
Here is a young lad framed of another leer. Shak. 3. An oblique view. With jealous leer malign Eyed them askance. Milton. 4. An affected cast of countenance. Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. Pope. 5. An annealing furnace in a glass manufactory.
n. A kind of tape or braid, often an ornamental kind. Halliwell. Leer side, the left side, as that on which a leer or ornament was worn. “A silver clasp on the leer side.” B. Jon.
a. [A-S. lēr, ge-lær, void, empty, lærnes, emptiness; O. Sax. & O. H. Ger. lāri, empty, M. H. Ger. līre, N. H. Ger. leer.] Empty; destitute; wanting; as, (a.) Empty of contents. “A leer stomach.” [Prov. Eng.] Gifford. (b.) Destitute of a rider; and hence, led, not ridden; as, a leer horse; hence, led in the train of another. “Leer drunkard.” B. Jonson. (c.) Wanting sense or seriousness; trifling; frivolous; as, leer words.