fleer

verb /flɪə/

1. To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn

   archaic

   I speak not like a dotard nor a fool, As, under privilege of age, to brag What I have done being young, or what would do, Were I not old.

   LEONATO. Tush, tush, man! never fleer and jest at me:

2. To grin with an air of civility; to leer.

   archaic

   In the time of popery, before the gospel came amongst us, we went to burials with weeping and wailing, as though there were no God: but since the gospel came unto us, I have heard say, that in some places they go with the corses grinning and flearing, as though they went to a bear-baiting;[…]

Where it comes from

Possibly from a Scandinavian source, compare Norwegian bokmål flire (“to giggle”), Jutish Danish flire.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry fleer (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← flechetteflehmen →

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