Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to leer
Participle: leered
Gerund: leering
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | leer |
| you | leer |
| he;she;it | leers |
| we | leer |
| you | leer |
| they | leer |
Perfect
| I | have leered |
| you | have leered |
| he;she;it | has leered |
| we | have leered |
| you | have leered |
| they | have leered |
Past
| I | leered |
| you | leered |
| he;she;it | leered |
| we | leered |
| you | leered |
| they | leered |
Pluperfect
| I | had leered |
| you | had leered |
| he;she;it | had leered |
| we | had leered |
| you | had leered |
| they | had leered |
Future
| I | will leer |
| you | will leer |
| he;she;it | will leer |
| we | will leer |
| you | will leer |
| they | will leer |
Future Perfect
| I | will have leered |
| you | will have leered |
| he;she;it | will have leered |
| we | will have leered |
| you | will have leered |
| they | will have leered |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | leer |
| you | leer |
| he;she;it | leer |
| we | leer |
| you | leer |
| they | leer |
Perfect
| I | have leered |
| you | have leered |
| he;she;it | have leered |
| we | have leered |
| you | have leered |
| they | have leered |
Imperfect
| I | leered |
| you | leered |
| he;she;it | leered |
| we | leered |
| you | leered |
| they | leered |
Pluperfect
| I | had leered |
| you | had leered |
| he;she;it | had leered |
| we | had leered |
| you | had leered |
| they | had leered |
Conditional
Present
| I | would leer |
| you | would leer |
| he;she;it | would leer |
| we | would leer |
| you | would leer |
| they | would leer |
Perfect
| I | would have leered |
| you | would have leered |
| he;she;it | would have leered |
| we | would have leered |
| you | would have leered |
| they | would have leered |
Imperative
| you | leer |
| we | Let's leer |
| you | leer |
Verbs conjugated like 'leer'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'leer'
beer,
cleer,
fleer,
jeer,
lear,
lee,
leger,
lever,
peer,
teer,
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. "to look obliquely" (now usually implying "with a lustful or malicious intent"), 1530, from M.E. noun
ler "cheek," from O.E.
hleor "the cheek, the face," from P.Gmc.
*khleuzas "near the ear," from
*kleuso- "ear," from PIE root
*kleu- "to hear" (see listen). The notion is probably of "looking askance" (cf. figurative development of
cheek). The noun is first attested 1598.
2. Exact development uncertain, but apparently from a verb *leer (“to make a face, look sideways”), from leer (“cheek, face, profile”).
Verbs referencing "leer"
German, Pennsylvania
lauere.
Sample Sentences
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And she looked to Mr. –––– / And leered like a love-sick pigeon. [1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:]
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I thought I saw him leer in an ugly way at me while the decanters were going round, but as there was no love lost between us, that might easily be. [1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:]
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The Baroness perceived that her entertainer had analyzed material comfort to a sufficiently fine point. And then he possessed the most delightful chinoiseries—trophies of his sojourn in the Celestial Empire: pagodas of ebony and cabinets of ivory; sculptured monsters, grinning and leering on chimney-pieces, in front of beautifully figured hand-screens; […] [1878 July–October, Henry James, Jr., chapter VI, in The Europeans. A Sketch. […], volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1878, →OCLC, page 246:]
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It was a quarter well stocked with deformed, leering, unkempt and uncombed idiots, who held out hands or caps and begged piteously. [1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XVIII, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 163:]
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“Hush! Don’t say that. You have done enough evil in your life. My God! Don’t you see that accursed thing leering at us?” [1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XIII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:]
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But Bertran has been taught the Arts of Court, / To guild a Face with Smiles; and leer a man to ruin. [1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 6:]