# lire

Pronunciation: say "LEER-ay" US /ˈlɪɹeɪ/, UK /ˈlɪəɹeɪ/

## Noun

1. Plural of lira. — plural of lira
   - Simple: Plural of lira. Use this form when talking about more than one lira.
   - _Tourists exchanged their dollars for lire on arrival in Rome._
   - _The painting sold for millions of lire at auction._
2. The fleshy part of a person or animal: the flesh, brawn, or muscle, as distinguished from bone and skin. *(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: The soft, meaty part of a person or animal, not the bones or skin.
   - _The wrestler's broad back showed solid lire beneath the skin._
   - _Years of labor had built up firm lire across his arms._
3. The face, or the appearance of the face or skin; complexion or hue. *(dialectal, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: The look of a person's face or skin: its color or appearance.
   - _The bride's fair lire glowed in the candlelight._
   - _A healthy lire returned to the child's cheeks after a week of rest._
4. The cheek: the fleshy side of the face below the eye. *(dialectal, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: The soft side of the face, below the eye.
   - _He kissed her gently on the lire before leaving._
   - _The cold wind stung his lire as he walked._
5. The fleshy part of a roast fowl, such as a capon, as distinguished from a limb or joint. *(dialectal, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: The meaty part of a cooked bird, not a wing or a leg.
   - _The cook served slices of tender lire from the capon._
   - _Guests were offered the lire while the children took the wings._
6. The Manx shearwater, a black-and-white seabird that nests in burrows on islands. *(dialectal, Orkney, Scotland, Shetland, UK)*
   - Simple: A black-and-white seabird that nests in burrows on islands.
   - _Thousands of lire nest on the island each summer._
   - _The lire feeds on small fish far out at sea._

## Origin

**Meanings 2, 5** — From Middle English lire, from Old English līra ("any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg"), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs- ("groin"). It is related to Dutch lies ("groin") and Swedish lår ("thigh").
**Meanings 3–4** — From Middle English lire, from Old Norse hlýr ("cheeks"). Compare Middle English lere, from Old English hlēor ("cheek, countenance, complexion").
**Meaning 6** — From Old Norse líri, related to Norwegian lira.
**Meaning 1** — From Italian lire.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lire (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).