lire

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See also: lirë and liře

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old English līra (any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, *lihwizô (thigh, groin), from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (groin). Cognate with Dutch lies (groin), Swedish lår (thigh).

Noun

lire (plural lires)

  1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Flesh, brawn, or muscle; the fleshy part of a person or animal in contradistinction to the bone and skin.
  2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The fleshy part of a roast capon, etc. as distinguished from a limb or joint.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old Norse hlýr (cheeks, plural). Compare Middle English lere, from Old English hlēor (cheek, countenance, complexion). More at leer.

Noun

lire (plural lires)

  1. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The cheek.
  2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Face; appearance of the face or skin; complexion; hue.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse líri. Cognate with Norwegian lira.

Noun

lire (plural lires)

  1. (UK dialectal, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, ornithology) The Manx shearwater (bird).

Etymology 4

From Italian lire.

Pronunciation

Noun

lire

  1. plural of lira

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French lire, from Latin legere, from Proto-Italic *legō, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-.

Verb

lire

  1. (transitive, intransitive) to read
  2. (reflexive, se lire) to be read
Conjugation
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Haitian Creole: li

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian lira, compare French livre.

Noun

lire f (plural lires)

  1. lira (unit of currency)

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

lire f

  1. plural of lira

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German.

Noun

lire f (definite singular lira, indefinite plural lirer, definite plural lirene)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse líri m, likely onomatopoetic.

Noun

lire f (definite singular lira, indefinite plural lirer, definite plural lirene)

  1. shearwater
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Italian plural of lira, from Latin libra (pound, weight). Doublet of lira.

Noun

lire m (definite singular liren, indefinite plural lirar or lire, definite plural lirane)

  1. (numismatics) lira (currency of Italy)

References

Old French

Etymology

From Latin legere.

Pronunciation

Verb

lire

  1. (transitive, intransitive) to read
  2. (reflexive, se lire) to be read

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

Further reading

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (lire)