fleemt

t. [ME. fleemen, flemen, discrecioun. Chaucer, Manciple's Tale, L. 78. If thou wolt haue grace as thou doist ge e Lete al falsnes be fleemyd thee fro. Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 181. When he was flemed out of paradise. Lydgate , Minor Poems, p. 123. fleent, n. A Middle English plural of fleal , and of fly2. fleer1 (fler), v . [=E. dial. flire, flyre; early mod. E. fleere, flear, flirre , erien , fliren , prob. of Scand. origin; flir a , titter, giggle, laugh at nothing, = Sw. dial. flir a , titter, = Dan. dial. flire , laugh, sneer; cf. G. flerren , flar- ren , make a wry mouth, howl. Cf. also Norw. flisa = Sw. fli a , titter.] I. in trans. 1. To grin in mockery; ery; make a wry face in contempt; hence, to gibe; sneer: as, to fleer and flout. I fleere , I make an yvell countenance with the mouthe by uncoveryng of the tet he. - The knave fleareth lyke a dogge under a doore. Palsgrave. Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me: I speak not like a dotard, nor a fool. Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. They offer not to fleer , nor jeer, nor break jests. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 3. He will evoke spirits from the vasty deep of imagination, only to point and fleer at them when they have obeyed his call. Whipple , E . and Rev., I. 57. 2. To grin with an air of civility; leer. Those, With their court dog-tricks, that can fawn and fleer . B. Jonson, Volpone, ifi. 1. II. trans. To mock; jeer at. I blush to think how people fleer'd and scorn'd me. Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 7. A vengeance squibber! She'll fleer me out of faith too. Fletcher, Wild goose Chase, ii. 1. fleer1 (fler), n. [ 'Tis a Shame to say what he said - With his Taunts and his Fleers , to ing up his Nose. Congreve , Way of the World, iii. 5. The to of quality, and high-bred fleer , Now Lady Harriot reached her fifteenth year. Soame Jenyns, The Modern Fine Lady (1750), [Walpole, Letters, II. 212, note. 2. A grin of civility; a leer. A sly treacherous fleer upon the face of deceivers. South , Sermons.