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Webster 1913 Edition

Leather

Leath′er

(lĕth′ẽr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
lether
, AS.
leðer
; akin to D.
leder
,
leêr
, G.
leder
, OHG.
ledar
, Icel.
leðr
, Sw.
läder
, Dan.
læder
.]
1.
The skin of an animal, or some part of such skin, with the hair removed, and tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for use; also, dressed hides, collectively.
2.
The skin.
[Ironical or Sportive]
☞ Leather is much used adjectively in the sense of made of, relating to, or like, leather.
Leather board
,
an imitation of sole leather, made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc.
–
Leather carp
(Zool.)
, a variety of carp in which the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under
Carp
.
–
Leather jacket
.
(Zool.)
(a)
A California carangoid fish (
Oligoplites saurus
).
(b)
A trigger fish (
Balistes Carolinensis
).
–
Leather flower
(Bot.)
,
a climbing plant (
Clematis Viorna
) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery sepals of a purplish color.
–
Leather leaf
(Bot.)
,
a low shrub (
Cassandra calyculata
), growing in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy leaves.
–
Leather plant
(Bot.)
,
one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus
Celmisia
, which have white or buff tomentose leaves.
–
Leather turtle
.
(Zool.)
See
Leatherback
.
–
Vegetable leather
.
(a)
An imitation of leather made of cotton waste.
(b)
Linen cloth coated with India rubber.
Ure.

Leath′er

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Leathered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Leathering
.]
To beat, as with a thong of leather.
[Obs. or Colloq.]
G. Eliot.

Webster 1828 Edition

Leather

LEATH'ER

,

Definition 2024

leather

leather

English

Noun

leather ‎(countable and uncountable, plural leathers)

  1. A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing.
  2. A piece of the above used for polishing.
  3. (colloquial) A cricket ball or football.
  4. (plural: leathers) clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.
  5. (baseball) A good defensive play
    Jones showed good leather to snare that liner.
  6. (dated, humorous) The skin.

Hyponyms

(types of leather): chagrin, cordovan, cordwain, galuchat, maroquin, morocco, morocco leather, shagreen, sharkskin, taw

Translations

Adjective

leather ‎(not comparable)

  1. Made of leather.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
  2. Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.

Translations

Verb

leather ‎(third-person singular simple present leathers, present participle leathering, simple past and past participle leathered)

  1. To cover with leather.
  2. To strike forcefully.
    He leathered the ball all the way down the street.
  3. To beat with a leather belt or strap.
    • 1806, Andrew Kippis, The New Annual Register:
      My father was very angry with me— -he took and leathered ( beat) me, because I ran away from my school ; for I did run away from my school ; he took and tied me up on a Sunday morning, leathered me a Friday night, and Saturday night : I was stripped naked when he leathered me on Friday night, and Saturday; my father told me to strip myself, and he leathered me, it was with a whip; but I do not know where he got the whip; he tied me with my arms extended so -- (spreading out her arms to their extremity, as if they were to be nailed upon a cross) -- My legs were tied too -- I was at the bottom of the dresser.
    • 2005, H. Salisbury, Betrayed, ISBN 0595341055, page 4:
      My father was furious with me and reached for the strap. He brutally leathered me with it before sending me to bed for the night.
    • 2011, Agnes Owens, Agnes Owens: The Complete Novellas, ISBN 0857901397:
      Anyway, bums were always on view in our family, getting leathered with a heavy belt.

Derived terms

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English lether, from Old English leþer ‎(“leather”), from Proto-Germanic *leþrą ‎(“leather”), from Proto-Indo-European *létrom ‎(“leather”). Cognate with West Frisian leare ‎(“leather”), Low German Ledder ‎(“leather”), Dutch leder, leer ‎(“leather”), German Leder ‎(“leather”), Danish læder ‎(“leather”), Swedish läder ‎(“leather”), Icelandic leður ‎(“leather”). The Celtic forms (Welsh lledr, Old Irish lethar) ultimately derive from the Germanic.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈleðə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɛðɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛðə(r)

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