leer

[ leer ]

/ lɪər /

verb (used without object)

to look with a sideways or oblique glance, especially suggestive of lascivious interest or sly and malicious intention: I can't concentrate with you leering at me.

noun

a lascivious or sly look.

QUIZZES

Fend Off Sciolism With This Word Of The Day Quiz

Are you the Cinderella of this week’s quiz? Test your memory on the words and definitions from March 23–29.

Question 1 of 7

schlep

to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly

to fold or wind around something

to carry; lug

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Origin of leer

1520–30; perhaps v. use of obsolete leer cheek (Middle English leor, Old English hlēor; cognate with Old Norse hlȳr (plural))

OTHER WORDS FROM leer

leer·ing·ly, adverb

Words nearby leer

leech rope, leeds, leeds castle, leek, leek-green, leer, leery, lees, lees summit, leesburg, leet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for leering

While her English classmates were learning to wash their hands, Nadia was worried that the devil was leering at her on the loo.
Want This Woman to Lie About Herself? You Can Just Burq Off!|Moral Courage|March 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Michaele asked me privately if she should expect “drunk, old, leering guys” to bother her.
Inside the Salahi Split|Diane Dimond|September 16, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Gone were the shaved head and leering smile from his mug shot released after the shootings.
Should He Be Forced to Take Meds?|Terry Greene Sterling|July 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
On the Internet, you do, because the leering appears as words on a screen.
The Myth of Online Predators|Lenore Skenazy|April 28, 2009|DAILY BEAST

The horrible fawning, leering landlady whom she had encountered later, might have turned her sick, but for that fine steady glow.
The Real Adventure|Henry Kitchell Webster
Sir Richard started back and beheld by the indistinct light of the street lamp the leering face of Flaggs, the clerk.
Mortmain|Arthur Cheny Train
Gale could see the Mexican bending over Val, leering at her.
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O|Clair Blank
The giant Martian had gathered her into his huge arms, his heavy jowled gray face, with a leering grin, close to hers!
Brigands of the Moon|Ray Cummings
His face was flushed and his eyes bloodshot; he was winking, leering, and slightly unsteady.
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty|J. W. de Forest

British Dictionary definitions for leering

leer

/ (lɪə) /

verb

(intr) to give an oblique, sneering, or suggestive look or grin

noun

such a look

Derived forms of leer

leering, adjective, nounleeringly, adverb

Word Origin for leer

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

leer

verb (used without object)

noun

QUIZZES

Origin of leer

OTHER WORDS FROM leer

Words nearby leer

Words related to leering

Example sentences from the Web for leering

British Dictionary definitions for leering

verb

noun

Derived forms of leer

Word Origin for leer