Obs. Forms: 1 fleard, 3 flærd, flerd. [OE. fleard, app. cognate with the synonymous ON. flǽrð str. fem., though the vowels do not regularly correspond.] Deceit, fraud, mockery.
c. 1000. Law Northumb. Priests, liv. (Thorpe, 1840), 420. Ȝif frið-ȝeard si on hwæs lande abuton stan oþþe treow, oþþe wille, oþþe swilces æniȝe fleard.
c. 1200. Ormin, 7334. Crist forrwerrpeþþ falls & flærd.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 452.
| So was herodes fox and flerd, | |
| ðo crist kam in-to ðis middel-erd. |
