lair
/ˈleː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.23 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
noun
A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.
noun
A group where pickup artists meet to discuss and practise seduction techniques.
Example Sentences
- "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?"
- "“Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”"
- "...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?""
- "[H]e did a little scout work, and discovered the lair of that old woman."
- "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;"
- "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?"
Etymology
From Middle English leir, leire, lair, lare, from Old English leġer (“couch, bed”), from Proto-Germanic *legrą, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *legʰ-, leir, leġer, *legrą
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈleː/
- British English: /ˈlɛə̯/