i Register
In some senses, lair is marked as figuratively, obsolete, British, colloquial. Watch for register when choosing this word.
lair
UK /lɛə/ US /lɛɚ/
noun 8verb 5name 1
Collocations
5ADJ.
against, armed, gloomy, manful, own, peerless, same, secret
VERB + LAIR
exits, give, make, smells, visited
LAIR + NOUN
ghostl, mud, vessels, wiglaf
PREP.
from, in, into, with
ADV.
only
Definitions
noun
1
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?
“Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”
2
A shed or shelter for domestic animals.
3
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?"
[H]e did a little scout work, and discovered the lair of that old woman.
4
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;
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?
5
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 […]
This is one of the 'lairs' of the Harknesses of Holestain and Haprig.
verb
1
To rest; to dwell.
The lee-light that December gies Was lairing in the wast, Whan Christy wi' her oa claes, Was boun' to dree the blast.
2
To lay down.
3
To bury.
noun
1
A bog; a mire.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — the habitation of wild animals
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
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?
Wiktionary02
“Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”
Wiktionary03
...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 ghostl
Wiktionary04
The lee-light that December gies Was lairing in the wast, Whan Christy wi' her oa claes, Was boun' to dree the blast.
Wiktionary05
The walls, which are fixed direct into the ground without a plinth, are made of wattle and plastered with a thin lair of mud or cowdung.
Wiktionary06
A fox smells its own lair first.
Tatoeba · #1044725Usage Notes
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