lair
/ˈlɛə̯/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈlɛː/
lair noun: a place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground. Also the obsolete form of layer.
Noun (1)
lair (plural lairs)
- A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
- O dainty dew, O morning dew / That gleamed in the world's first dawn, did you / And the sweet grass and manful oaks / Give lair and rest / To him who toadwise sits and croaks / His death-behest?a. 1881, Sidney Lanier, Strange Jokes
- “Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 47
- A shed or shelter for domestic animals.
- A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.
- ...Van Helsing stood up and said, "Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lair. Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?"1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC
- [H]e did a little scout work, and discovered the lair of that old woman.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 41
- A bed or resting place.
- Then would I in Plenty's lap,
For the first time take a nap;
Falling back in easy lair,
Sweetly slumb'ring in my chair;1820, John Clare, “Address to Plenty in Winter”, in Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, page 50 - Wake ye, sleep ye, my hapless boy,
In this homeless house of care?
Lack ye the warmth of a mother's eye
On the cauldrife, lonely lair?1843 June, William Thom, “Extract from a Letter to J. Robertson, Esq.”, in Rhymes and Recollections of a Hand-loom Weaver, 3rd edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., published 1847, page 136
- Then would I in Plenty's lap,
- A grave; a cemetery plot.
- […] but few knew the reason, and some thought it was because the deceased were strangers, and had no regular lair. I dressed the two bonny orphans in the best mourning at my own cost […]1821, John Galt, Annals of the parish, or, The chronicle of Dalmaling, xlix (page 205 in the 1908 edition)
- This is one of the 'lairs' of the Harknesses of Holestain and Haprig.1849, The Edinburgh topographical, traditional and antiquarian magazine, page 114
- A group where pickup artists meet to discuss and practise seduction techniques.
Verb (1)
lair (third-person singular simple present lairs, present participle lairing, simple past and past participle laired)
Noun (2)
lair (plural lairs)
Verb (2)
lair (third-person singular simple present lairs, present participle lairing, simple past and past participle laired)
- To mire.
- To become mired.
Noun (3)
lair (plural lairs)
Proper noun capitalized: Lair
Lair (plural Lairs)
- A surname.
Also used as
lair is also the obsolete form of layer.
lair meaning in Hindi
lair in Hindi
- of an animal
- मांद mānd
Examples of lair in a sentence
- […] I would purchase a lair in the Necropolis, and have wee Johnnie removed from his humble resting-place, and laid down [there].1862, George Roy, Generalship; a Tale, page 58:
- We appreciate that this is a sensitive issue for lair owners and would like to assure them that the maintenance of the cemetery is carried out in a sensitive and dignified manner.2018 August 2, BBC News, quoting Aberdeen City Council, “Dad 'will sleep by son's grave' to stop council clearing mementoes”, in BBC News:
Synonyms of lair
Forms of lair
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | lairs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | lairs |
| present participle | lairing |
| past participle | laired |
| past | laired |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Lairs |
Origin of lair
From Middle English leir, leire, lair, lare, from Old English leġer (“couch, bed”), from Proto-Germanic *legrą, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.
From Old Norse leir (“clay, mud”). Compare Icelandic leir (“clay”).
Backformation from lairy.
Words formed from lair
Words that rhyme with lair
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- declare
- hair
- Sinclair
- where
- ayr
- care
- layer
- mayor
- parterre
- fare
- glare
- pear
- prayer
- snare
- compare
- dare
- rare
- share
- swear
- ware
- wear and tear
- Ayer
- blare
- flair
- forbear
- Kerr
- laissez faire
- mousquetaire
- pare
- prepare
- repair
- stare
- unfair
- yare
- -ware
- abear
- aflare
- despair
- glair
- heir
- impair
- Pierre
- reair
- scare
- tare
- trillionaire
- Voltaire
- aware
Questions about lair
- What does lair mean?
- Lair means a place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
- What is lair in Hindi?
- Lair in Hindi is मांद (mānd). See Lair meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use lair in a sentence?
- […] I would purchase a lair in the Necropolis, and have wee Johnnie removed from his humble resting-place, and laid down [there].
- What part of speech is lair?
- Lair can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lair?
- Lair is pronounced /ˈlɛə̯/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lair?
- The plural of lair is lairs.
Words near lair in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lair (page history and authors); Lair (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lair.wav.
Cite this entry: “lair.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lair. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.