Middle English Dictionary Entry

lether n.
Quotations: Show all Hide all

Entry Info

Forms lether n. Also letheir, leder, ledder, (errors) leyre, luþer & lather, ladder.
Etymology OE leþer, as in weald-leþer, leþerwyrhta, etc.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) The prepared skin of an animal, leather; leather as a material for various uses; gleu of ~, ?a glue for fastening leather, ?a glue-like substance made from leather; (b) blak ~, black or dark leather; grene ~, ~ grene, untanned hide; red ~, red leather; whit ~, leather which is either whitened or left in its natural color; ~ hungari, Hungarian leather; spruce ~, Prussian leather; calves (deres, getes, hertes, hors, houndes, lambes, roes, rotheres, shepes) ~, prepared skin from a calf (deer, goat, hart, horse, dog, lamb, roe, ox, sheep); also, brint (bote, sole, salisberi, stalsite, calf, oxe, ro, swin) ~, q.v.; gote ~ [see got n. 5a. (a)], hose ~ [see hose n. 1. (d)]; (c) something made or consisting of leather; a sheet of leather, leather bag, leather implement, shield belt, the strap attaching a stirrup to the saddle; ?a leather splint [quot. Henslow; ladder(e n. 1. (c) may also belong here]; whit ~, a sheet of white leather; prese ~, ?a piece of Prussian leather; over ~, stirop ~, q.v.; (d) an ox hide; -- with reference to Dido's founding of Carthage.
Show 67 Quotations
2.
(a) The skin of a living person, hide of a living or dead animal; ~ of the paunches, the covering of the stomachs of a hart; ballok ~, ballok(es letheres, the scrotum; (b) some kind of morbid growth in the eye.
Show 8 Quotations
3.
In cpds. & combs.: ~ deier, one who dyes leather; ~ kersuere, ?error for next; ~ kervere, one who cuts, carves or shapes leather; ~ man = ~ kervere or ~ sellere; ~ sellere, a dealer in leather; esp. a member of the Leathersellers' Company in London.
Show 13 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • (1425) MSS Beverley in HMC100 : [Housed with hides called] Salisbery-lethyr, calf-lethyr, swyn-lether, brynt-lethir.
    • Note: New cpds.
  • (1377-7) Doc.Finchale in Sur.Soc.6p.lxxii : Et in pane equorum, cum ferrura, cingulis, copestris, wit leȝtr'…xxiij s.
    • Note: New spelling
    Note: 1.(b)--per MJW
  • -?-(1384) Reg.Freemen York in Sur.Soc.9682 : Joh. Prychet, whit-lether-tewer.
    • Note: Add to 3. ~ tewer: = MED teuer(n n., one who taws animal skins [MED teuen v. to prepare (animal skin) for use by tanning, curing, or dressing it.]--per MJW.
  • c1450(c1415) Roy.Serm.(Roy 18.B.23)231/36 : Þer wynges be as þei were made of leddir.
    • Note: Additional quote(s)
  • (1298) Close R.Edw.I202 : Daniel Whitlether.
    • Note: Sense 3. Add a surname sense to cover this & the others that really are surnames.--per MJW.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. leather.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(a)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. ballock leather(s).

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(a)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. ballocks' leathers (pl.).

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. lether.

©2025 Regents of the University of Michigan. For details about this collection's copyright see the MEC copyright statement and the U-M Library Copyright Policy. Data last refreshed Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 12:18:00.