Forms: 1 leʓer, 3–6 leir, 5 layere, 5–7 lare, layre, 5–7 leyre, 6–7 lear(e, laire, laier, (lieare), 6–9 layer, 9 Sc. layre, dial. lear, 4– lair. See also LAYER. [OE. leʓer str. neut., corresponding to OFris. legor lying, situation, OS. legar neut., bed, bed of sickness (Du. leger bed, camp), OHG. leger masc., bed, camp (mod.G. lager, influenced by lage, lying, situation), ON. legr neut., seduction, Goth. ligr-s masc., bed:—OTeut. *legro-, f. root *leg-: see LIE v.1]
† 1. The action or fact of lying. Obs.
Beowulf (Gr.), 3043. Se [sc. se draca] wæs fiftiʓes fotʓemearces lang on leʓere.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 23. Mid þan langan leʓere þæs deadan mannes inne.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. iv. 70. All the beistis war Repaterit weyll eftyr thair nychtis lair.
1631. Markham, Way to Get Wealth, V. II. xviii. (1668), 87. Touching the keeping of Corn after it is thrasht and drest, it is divers wayes to be done, as by stowage or place of lear.
† b. A lying with a person; fornication. Obs.
1296. Durham Halmote Rolls (Surtees), 1. Eda filia Pater Noster pro leyr, 6d.Ibid. (1332–3), 13. De Ivetta Horner, pro leyr in adulterio, 2s. Ibid. (1361), 27. De Christiana ancilla Willelmi capellani pro leyr cum capellano, 2s.
† c. of land: The state of lying fallow, Obs.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 20 a. The Tiller … is driuen to giue it at least seuen or eight yeres leyre.
2. The resting place of a corpse; a grave, tomb. Now only Sc., a plot in a graveyard.
c. 1000. Laws Northumbr. Priests, § 62, in Schmid, Gesetze, 370. Þoliʓe he clænes leʓeres.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 288. Unsac he wæs on life beo on leʓere swa swa he mote.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2293. Sir Arthure … ledde hyme to the layere thare the kyng lygges.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. x. 3243. He chesyd his layre in till Kelsew.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron. LXXXIV. iii. The mynster churche … Of Glastonbury, where nowe he hath his leyre.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 118. Ane feild full fair, Quhair that him self befoir chesit his lair.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S. T. S.), I. 154. Sanct Salvatouris colledge quhairin he maid his lair verri cureouslie and costlie.
1882. McQueen, in Macm. Mag., XLVI. 162. Some of the inhabitants … had their family ‘lair’ or burying-place in the graveyard of a village.
1890. [Notice in Stromness Ch.-yard]. The Committee appointed by the Heritors to take charge of the new Burial Ground have had before them alternative plans for placing of lairs.
3. That whereon one lies down to sleep; a bed, couch. † At or to lair: in or to bed. † To take one’s lair: to take to one’s bed. Now chiefly with some reference to sense 5 b.
a. 1000. Wife’s Compl., 34. Frynd leʓer weardiaþ þonne ic on uhtan ana gonge.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 103. He beð neðer þanne he er was, alse fro sete to leire.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29091. In askes and in hare, and weping and vneses lair.
c. 1425. Dispute Mary & Cross, 96, in Leg. Rood (1871), App. 200. My love I lulled vppe in hys leir.
1494. Acta Dom. Conc. (1739), 372/2. His wiff wes liand in cheld bed lare.
1619. H. Hutton, Follies Anat. (Percy Soc.), 35. Robin has for tobaccho sold his chaire, Reserving nothing but a stoole for ’s lare.
1633. T. Adams, Comm. 2 Pet. i. 9 (1865), 107. The physician coming to his patient inquires the time when he took his layre.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 24. The shepherd … on the sloping pond-head lies at lair.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 13. Wretchedness … shivers hunger-stricken into its lair of straw.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xx. 139. There were ‘lairs’ among the underwood, constructed of branches.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Log of a Sea-waif, 160. The villainous den beneath the top-gallant-forecastle, far in the fore-part of the ship, which is the lair of seamen in most English ships.
transf. and fig. 1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. iv. Till stretch’d upon the bloody lair Each rebel corpse was laid!
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 687. We make there our liquid lair.
4. A place for animals to lie down in. a. for domestic animals. † Also, a haunt or range. Now spec. an enclosure or large shed for cattle on the way to market.
By Spenser, if the reading be correct, used pseudo-arch. for ‘pasture.’
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 52. Take heede ek if the dwellers in that leir Her wombis sidis, reynys swelle or ake.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XIII. Prol. 44. All stoyr and catall seysit in thar lair.
1573. Tusser, Husb., cxiii. (1878), 206. Borne I was … In Essex laier, in village faier, that Riuenhall hight.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. viii. 29. More hard for hungry steed t’ abstaine from pleasant lare.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Mindes Mel., Ps. xxiii. 5. He makes my leare In feelds so fare.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 110. The Warmest parts of many Pastures, which Sheep and Cattell chuse alway for their Lieare.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 233. Nature shall provide … Mossy Caverns for their Evening lare.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Cow, You must … fill up the Holes carefully that are in the Cow-house-yard or Layer.
1810. in Risdon’s Surv. Devon, 406. Each flock of sheep has its particular range,… These places are called lears.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 105. Low of distant cattle … dropping down to lair.
1865. Daily Tel., 22 Aug., 5/5. These lairs … are tolerably comfortable places, and the cattle have food and water while staying there.
1887. Times, 27 Aug., 11/4. £8,943 0s. 6d. Hay, straw, and forage for use in the lairs.
b. for beasts of chase or of prey. Phr. At lair: in his or their lair.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 115.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 31 b. All the nimble Citizens of the wood betooke them to their Laire.
1626. Breton, Fantasticks, Summer (1857), 324. The stately Hart is at Layre in the high wood.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 457. Out of the ground up rose, As from his laire the wilde Beast.
1735. Somerville, Chase, III. 294. Fierce from his Lair springs forth the speckled Pard.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. lv. 96. They were hunted like wild beasts into their lairs.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. II. 535. In that forest was the lair Of a great boar.
transf. and fig. 1814. Byron, Lara, II. ix. He had hoped quiet in his sullen lair.
1860. W. Collins, Wom. White, III. viii. 383. I had stirred in its lair the serpent-hatred of years.
1870. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxxii. 6. Before the great devouring floods leap forth from their lairs.
c. of other animals.
1841. Browning, Pippa, 167. That mossy lair of lizards.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Fate, Wks. (Bohn), II. 324. Every creature,—wren or dragon,—shall make its own lair.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, v. (1880), 182. A fish feeding in his lair.
5. Agric. Nature or kind of soil, with reference to its effect on the quality of crops, or of the animals pastured upon it.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 178. The tyllar wyll … shone it as poysonde leyre.
1530. Palsgr., 237/2. Layre of a grounde, terroy[r].
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 141. What laier much better then there, or cheaper (thereon to doo well?)
1610. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. viii. 15. Virgill infers the best layer for Tillage to be an Earth which is blackish and darke.
1616. Surflet & Markh., Country Farme, 117. Sheepe bred either of a fruitfull ground, and rich leare, or vpon barren ground, and poore leare.
1623. Markham, Cheape & Good Husb. (ed. 3), 104. Leare, which is the earth on which a Sheepe lyeth, and giueth him his colour, is much to be respected; the red Leare is held the best.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 158. Chuse the Female before the Male [rabbit],… and both from out a chalky Ground and a sweet Layer.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 135/2. Sheep at their Lear. Some say, Feeding or Grasing.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincs., 211. Where the soil is so good as to run well to grass good layers are easily formed.
1847. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VIII. I. 64. Manure is used heavily on clover-layers.
fig. 1565. Jewel, Repl. Harding (1611), 355. Lacke of Deuotion both in the people and in the Priest, is a good leare to breed Masses.
1602. Breton, Wonders Worth hearing (Grosart), 8/1. His Bride and hee were both Rabbets of one Laier.
6. Comb.: lair-holder Sc., the owner of a grave; † lair-stall, † -stead, a grave within a church; † lair-stone, a gravestone; † lair-stow, a burial-place.
1864. N. B. Mail, 2 Nov. The subcommittee of the *lair-holders thought it would [etc.].
1541. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 195. Pro denariis debitis pro le *layrestall infra ecclesiam.
1672. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 338. For laying downe layerstalls, 5s.
1559. Richmond. Wills (Surtees, 1853), 130. I gyue for my *lare stede in the churche iijs. iiijd.
1538. Invent., in Archæologia, LI. 71. Itm the laton on the *larestones, vd.
1565. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1835), 247. For his lairstone in ye church iijs. iiijd.
c. 1632. in Brand, Hist. Newcastle (1789), I. 370, note. One swea tree with two rolles for taking and laying down lairstones.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom. (Th.), I. 430. Ypolitus ða bebyriʓde ðone halʓan lichaman on ðære wudewan *leʓer-stowe.
c. 1205. Lay., 22874. Me nom alle þa dede & to leirstowe heom ladden.
