leather

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leather

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From Middle English lether, from Old English leþer (“leather”), from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą (“leather”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸlitrom, *letros, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥tro-.

Cognate with West Frisian leare (“leather”), Low German Leder (“leather”), Dutch leder, leer (“leather”), German Leder (“leather”), Danish læder (“leather”), Swedish läder (“leather”), Icelandic leður (“leather”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛðə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛðɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌðəɹ/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)

leather (countable and uncountable, plural leathers)

2. A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing.

   Coordinate term: pseudoleather

3. A piece of the above used for polishing.
4. (colloquial) A cricket ball or football.
   • 1918, M. M. Guy, Joe Doughty, page 157:

     The goalee made a frantic grab as the leather spun clean past him, but he was just a second too late, and Joe had scored for Redcliff.

5. (plural: leathers) clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.
6. (baseball) A good defensive play

   Jones showed good leather to snare that liner.

7. (boxing) A punch.
8. (dated, humorous) The skin.
9. Clipping of fruit leather.

• (types of leather): chagrin, cordovan, cordwain, galuchat, maroquin, morocco, morocco leather, shagreen, sharkskin, taw

• Tok Pisin: let
• → Esperanto: ledo
• → Ido: ledro

leather (not comparable)

1. Made of leather.

   Synonym: leathern

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

2. Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.
3. Referring to an establishment of familial relations through agreed sexual or romantic deviance.
   • 2021 June 14, Ellora Vilkin, Richard Sprott, “Consensual Non-Monogamy Among Kink-Identified Adults: Characteristics, Relationship Experiences, and Unique Motivations for Polyamory and Open Relationships”, in Archives of Sexual Behavior, volume 50, →DOI, pages 1521–1536:

     Some research has documented the phenomenon of leather families as a form of intentional, chosen families created by members of sexual and gender minority groups, often in the face of biological family rejection and marginalization in society (Bauer, 2010; Hammack et al., 2019; Murphy & Bjorngaard, 2019; Pitagora, 2016). Leather families are a network of people that acknowledge and practice ongoing supportive relationships “while sharing the commonalities of the leather and kink scene” (Bannon, 2016). […] Very few studies have examined how many people are members of leather or other “chosen” families.

leather (third-person singular simple present leathers, present participle leathering, simple past and past participle leathered)

1. (transitive) To cover with leather.
   • 2015, Rain Trueax, Lands of Fire:

     He rose and leathered his Colt as his father came to stand beside him.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To form a leathery surface (on).
   • 2003, Bonita Wagner, Satan's Choice, page 66:

     By the appearance of his deep suntan, which had leathered his skin, and the calluses that covered his hands, Sheriff Anderson figured the man to be one of the area ranchers.

   • 2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 83:

     Some leather and droop like bat wings, others, as the poet Brenda Hillman writes, are 'hung in hashtags'.

4. (transitive) To strike forcefully.

   He leathered the ball all the way down the street.

5. (transitive) To spank or beat with a leather belt or strap.
   • 1806, Andrew Kippis, The New Annual Register:

     My father was very angry with me— -he took and leathered ( beat) me, because I ran away from my school ; for I did run away from my school ; he took and tied me up on a Sunday morning, leathered me a Friday night, and Saturday night : I was stripped naked when he leathered me on Friday night, and Saturday; my father told me to strip myself, and he leathered me, it was with a whip; but I do not know where he got the whip; he tied me with my arms extended so -- (spreading out her arms to their extremity, as if they were to be nailed upon a cross) -- My legs were tied too -- I was at the bottom of the dresser.

   • 2005, H. Salisbury, Betrayed, →ISBN, page 4:

     My father was furious with me and reached for the strap. He brutally leathered me with it before sending me to bed for the night.

   • 2011, Agnes Owens, Agnes Owens: The Complete Novellas, →ISBN:

     Anyway, bums were always on view in our family, getting leathered with a heavy belt.

• Tar Heel, Tarheel, haltere, lethera