From Middle English lether, from Old English leþer, from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą, borrowing from Proto-Celtic *ɸlitrom, *letros, from Proto-Indo-European *pel-.

Cognate with Western Frisian leare, Low German Leder, Dutch leder, leer ("leather"), German Leder, Danish læder, Swedish läder, Icelandic leður.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈlɛðə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈlɛðɚ/
• (dialectal, obsolete) IPA: /ˈlʌðəɹ/

leather

1. A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing.

   Coordinate term: pseudoleather

2. A piece of the above used for polishing.
3. (colloquial) A cricket ball or football.
4. (plural: leathers) clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.
5. (baseball) A good defensive play

   Jones showed good leather to snare that liner.

6. (boxing) A punch.
7. (dated, humorous) The skin.
8. Clipping of fruit leather

• French: cuir
• German: Leder
• Italian: cuoio
• Portuguese: couro
• Russian: ко́жа
• Spanish: cuero

leather (not comparable)

1. Made of leather.

   Synonyms: leathern

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

2. Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.
3. Referring to an establishment of familial relations through agreed sexual or romantic deviance.

• French: de cuir
• German: ledern
• Portuguese: de couro
• Russian: ко́жаный

leather (leathers, present participle leathering; simple past and past participle leathered)

1. (transitive) To cover with leather.
2. (ambitransitive) To form a leathery surface (on).
3. (transitive) To strike forcefully.

   He leathered the ball all the way down the street.

4. (transitive) To spank or beat with a leather belt or strap.

English surname, from the noun leather.

1. Surname.