fleering

Verb

fleer (third-person singular simple present fleers, present participle fleering, simple past and past participle fleered)

1. (archaic) To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn
   • LEONATO. Tush, tush, man! never fleer and jest at me:
     I speak not like a dotard nor a fool,
     As, under privilege of age, to brag
     What I have done being young, or what would do,
     Were I not old.1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act 5, scene 1

   Synonyms:

   deride, sneer, mock, gibe, badger, bam, barrack, brock, bullyrag, chiack

2. (archaic) To grin with an air of civility; to leer.
   • In the time of popery, before the gospel came amongst us, we went to burials with weeping and wailing, as though there were no God: but since the gospel came unto us, I have heard say, that in some places they go with the corses grinning and flearing, as though they went to a bear-baiting;[…]1552, Hugh Latimer, The Fifth Sermon Preached on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Trinity, 1552; republished in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, and Constant Martyr of Jesus Christ...

   Synonyms:

   fligger

See all 5 meanings of fleer