leer1
/lɪə
/verb [no object]
Look or gaze in a lascivious or unpleasant way: bystanders were leering at the nude painting (as adjective leering) every leering eye in the room was on her...
- Maybe older guys wouldn't be leering at the girls all the time if the girls actually looked their age.
- He leered at me, and grinned through a veritable jungle of bad facial hair.
- A group of men were standing on the balcony, leering at girls and making inappropriate comments.
Synonyms
ogle, look lasciviously, look suggestively, give sly looks to, eye, watch, stare, goggle
informal give someone the glad eye, give someone a/the once-over, lech after/over, drool over, undress someone with one's eyes
British informal gawp, gawk
Australian/New Zealand informal perv on
noun
A lascivious or unpleasant look: he gave me a sly leer...
- The group relaxed, and Jake grinned his wolflike leer again as he lined up his next shot.
- He lit a cigarette and took a swig of the alcohol and grinned at me, a grin that was rapidly becoming a leer.
- He gives them with a sinister look or two with a leer on his face.
Synonyms
lecherous look, lascivious look, suggestive look, ogle, sly glance, stare
informal the glad eye, the once-over
Derivatives
leeringly
/ adverb ...- The man's eyes fell on Elizabeth and he smiled leeringly at her, showing a gold tooth.
- I cautiously took a step forward, and looked at him leeringly.
- He smiled leeringly and suddenly I felt sick to my stomach.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the general sense 'look sideways or askance'): perhaps from obsolete leer 'cheek', from Old English hlēor, as though the sense were 'to glance over one's cheek'.
lairy from mid 19th century:
For a century or more lairy has been Australian and New Zealand slang for ‘ostentatious, flashy’. British English has adopted this use, to join an earlier, originally Cockney sense ‘cunning or conceited’, as well as the meaning ‘aggressive, rowdy’. The word is a form of leery (late 17th century), which means ‘cautious or wary’ and is related to leer (mid 16th century) ‘to look at in a lecherous way’, from Old English hleor ‘cheek’.
Rhymes
leer2
noun
Variant spelling of lehr.
- out of control
- out of countenance
- out of court
- out-of-court settlement
- out of danger
- out of date
- out-of-dateness
- out-of-doorness
- out-of-door relief
- out of doors
- out-of-fashion
- out-of-fashioned
- outoffice
- out of gear
- out of hand
- out of harm's way
- out of hours
- out of humour
- out of it
- out of joint
- out of line
- out of one's box
- out of one's depth
- out of one's gourd
- out of one's mind