(a) Uneducated, ignorant; unlettered, unable to read Latin; lay, non-clerical; also, without special training (in medicine, etc.), inexpert, unskilled; of intelligence, understanding, etc.: untutored, limited; ~ of, ignorant of (sth.), untrained in (sth.); ~ to reden, unable to read; [sometimes difficult to distinguish from (b), to which some quots. here may belong]; (b) of low birth, lowly; common, ordinary; after leueder use, in common parlance, in ordinary speech; (c) as noun: a layman, non-cleric; one who is uneducated or ignorant; -- also coll.; (d) ~ frere (brother), a member of a religious community without the scholastic training or duties required of the other religious, a lay brother; ~ suster, lay sister; ~ covent, lay community, lay members of a religious community; (e) ~ folk (folkes, peple), the ignorant, the uneducated; laity, non-clerics; common people; folk ~ and lered, lered and ~ folk, ~ folk and lered, people of all kinds; lered (lerned) and ~, i)hoded and ~, ~ and lered, etc., clerical and lay, educated and uneducated; also, clerics and laity, educated and uneducated people; also, everyone, men of all kinds; both lered and ~, both ~ and lered, with lered and with ~, etc.; lered or (other) ~, clerical or lay; educated or uneducated; ilered no ~, lered ne ~; (f) ?unknown, ?forgotten.

(a) Of persons: lacking in judgment or sense; stupid, foolish, misguided; also fig.; as ~ as ges (as is an asse), as stupid as geese (an ass); leueder than an asse; (b) of assertions, beliefs, behavior, etc.: resulting from, or characterized by, stupidity or ignorance; foolish, senseless; (c) lacking in refinement, untutored, uncouth; of disposition or conduct: ill-bred, boorish, unmannerly; of form or appearance: rough, crude, ugly; of talk, stories, etc.: coarse, ill-mannered, rude; of literary works or style: unsophisticated, unpolished; (d) useless, worthless; idle; (e) evil, wicked; dishonest; unchaste, lascivious.

Misc. uses: (a) law of a court: secular, non-religious; (b) in Biblical use: suitable for consumption by laymen, unconsecrated, unhallowed; (c) in prov.: lerne (lere) or be ~, but thou lerne thou shalt be ~; (d) as surname.