Leath"er (lĕth"ẽr),
n. [OE. lether, AS. leðer; akin
to D. leder, leêr, G. leder, OHG.
ledar, Icel. leðr, Sw. läder, Dan.
læder.] 1. The skin of an animal,
or some part of such skin, tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for
use; also, dressed hides, collectively.
2. The skin. [Ironical or Sportive]
☞ Leather is much used adjectively in the sense of
made of, relating to, or like,
leather.
Leather board, an imitation of sole leather,
made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc. -- Leather
carp (Zoöl.) , a variety of carp in which
the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under
Carp. -- Leather jacket.
(Zoöl.) (a) A California carangoid
fish (Oligoplites saurus). (b) A
trigger fish (Balistes Carolinensis). -- Leather
flower (Bot.), a climbing plant (Clematis
Viorna) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery
sepals of a purplish color. -- Leather leaf
(Bot.), a low shrub (Cassandra calyculata), growing
in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy
leaves. -- Leather plant (Bot.),
one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus
Celmisia, which have white or buff tomentose leaves. --
Leather turtle. (Zoöl.) See
Leatherback. -- Vegetable leather.
(a) An imitation of leather made of cotton
waste. (b) Linen cloth coated with India
rubber. Ure.
Leath"er, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Leathered (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Leathering.] To beat, as with a thong of leather.
[Obs. or Colloq.] G. Eliot.