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Origin and history of fleer

fleer(v.)

"grin mockingly," c. 1400, perhaps from Scandinavian (compare dialectal Norwegian flira "giggle, laugh at nothing," dialectal Danish flire "to grin, sneer, titter"). Transitive sense from 1620s. Related: Fleered; fleering; fleeringly. As a noun from c. 1600.

fleer(n.)

"one who flees," late 14c., agent noun from flee (v.).

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to fleer

flee(v.)

Old English fleon, flion "take flight, fly from, avoid, escape" (contracted class II strong verb; past tense fleah, past participle flogen), from Proto-Germanic *fleuhanan "to run away" (source also of Old High German fliohan, Old Norse flöja, Old Frisian flia, Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Gothic þliuhan "to flee"), probably from PIE *pleuk-, extended form of root *pleu- "to flow," but Boutkan is not convinced. Also compare fly (v.2).

Weak past tense and past participle fled emerged in Middle English under influence of Scandinavian. Old English had a transitive form, geflieman "put to flight, banish, drive away," which came in handy in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Related: fled; Fleeing.

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    Trends of fleer

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    fugitive
    late 14c., "one who flees, a runaway, a fugitive from justice, an outlaw," from fugitive (adj.). Old French fugitif also was used as a noun meaning "fugitive person," and Latin fugitivus (adj.) commonly also was used as a noun meaning "a runaway, fugitive slave, deserter."...late
    runaway
    1540s (late 13c. as a surname), "one who flees or departs; a fugitive, deserter," from the verbal phrase run away "flee in the face of danger" (late 14c.); see run (v.) + away (adv.). From c. 1600 as "horse which bolts while being driven or ridden," later extended to railway trai
    mortal
    late 14c., "deadly, destructive to life; causing or threatening death" (of illness, poisons, wounds, etc.); also, of persons or the body, "doomed to die, subject to death;" from Old French mortel "destined to die; deserving of death" and directly from Latin mortalis "subject to d
    scorn
    late 12c., scorn, skarn, "feeling or attitude of contempt; contemptuous treatment, mocking abuse," a shortening of Old French escarn "mockery, derision, contempt," a common Romanic word (Spanish escarnio, Italian scherno) of Germanic origin (source also of Old High German skern "
    person
    c. 1200, persoun, "an individual, a human being," from Old French persone "human being, anyone, person" (12c., Modern French personne) and directly from Latin persona "human being, person, personage; a part in a drama, assumed character," originally "a mask, a false face," such a
    soul
    "A substantial entity believed to be that in each person which lives, feels, thinks, and wills" [Century Dictionary], Middle English soule, from Old English sawol "spiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existence; life, living being," from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (sour
    smirk
    Middle English smirken, from Old English smearcian "to smile." There are no exact cognates in other languages, but probably it is a suffixed form related to smerian "to laugh at, scorn," which is from Proto-Germanic *smer-, *smar-, variant of PIE *smei- "to smile;" see smile (v.)
    individual
    early 15c., "one and indivisible, inseparable" (with reference to the Trinity), from Medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus "indivisible," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + dividuus "divisible," from dividere "divide" (see divide (v.)). Original sense now ob
    somebody
    c. 1300 as two words, from 16c. as one word, "indeterminate person, person unnamed or unknown," from some + body. Used in place of the name of a person whose name is to be unspoken, by c. 1600. The meaning "important person, person of consequence" is from 1560s. Related: Somebodi
    contempt
    late 14c., "open disregard or disobedience" (of authority, the law, etc.); the general sense of "act of despising; scorn for what is mean, vile, or worthless" is from c. 1400; from Old French contempt, contemps, and directly Latin contemptus "scorn," from past participle of conte

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