lair

CEFRC1

/ˈlɛə̯/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.
A group where pickup artists meet to discuss and practise seduction techniques.

In context

The octopus only exits its lair to look for food or for reproductive purposes.
[…] 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 […]
“Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

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?
a. 1881, Sidney Lanier, Strange Jokes
“Would you go into the dragon's lair, my peerless Wiglaf?”
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 47
...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?"
1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC
[H]e did a little scout work, and discovered the lair of that old woman.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 41
This is one of the 'lairs' of the Harknesses of Holestain and Haprig.
1849, The Edinburgh topographical, traditional and antiquarian magazine, page 114

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From Middle English leir, leire, lair, lare, from Old English leġer (“couch, bed”), from Proto-Germanic *legrą, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.