Obs. exc. Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 1 líra, 4–7 lyre, 4–5 Sc. lyr, (4 lere), 3– lire. [OE. líra wk. masc., of obscure origin.] Flesh, muscle, brawn.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 216. Þa liran þara lendena sariað. Ibid., II. 264. Breost ablawen & sar þeoh & lira.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 159/8. Pulpa, uel uiscum, lira.
a. 1225. Juliana, 58. As þat istelet irn to limede hire ant te leac lið ba ant lire.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 8202 (Kölbing). For he carf man & stiel & ire, So flesche hewer doþ flesches lire.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxviii. (Adrian), 504. Scho wald haf ronnyne in þe fire, til half brynt hir bane & lyr.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 146. He dide next his white leere Of clooth of lake fyn and cleere A breech and eek a sherte.
c. 1390[?]. Form of Cury (1780), 12. Take the lire of Pork and grynd it smal.
1460. Lybeaus Disc., 1899. Lybeauus … smot of hys theygh, Fell, and bone, and lyre.
1483. Cath. Angl., 218. Lyre of flesche, pulpa.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. iv. 35. The haill bowkis of beistis, bane and lyre.
1584. Hudson, Du Bartas’ Judith, VI. (1608), 95. Ther was no sinew, Arter, vaine, nor lyre, That was not mangled with their vulgar rage.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, XXI. iv. (1620), 786. A boiled Peacock was serued in and I … tooke some of the Lyre of the breast.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., VI. 133. He never observed … the hook, which indeed was buried in the lire.
a. 1835. J. R. Wilson, Tales of Borders (1837), III. 304/2. He was nae feckless smaik that, either in bane, limb, or lire.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Lire, the flesh of an animal, or rather the increasing substance as it grows bulky. ‘There’s a fair deal o’ lire about it.’
Hence Liry a. Obs. exc. dial. Fleshy.
1483. Cath. Angl., 218/1. Lyrye, pulposus.
1876. Whitby Gloss., s.v. Lire, ‘Quite liry,’ well fleshed.
