Leary

or leery, adj. (common).—1. Artful; DOWNY (q.v.).

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1823. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 3rd ed., s.v.

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1841. LEMAN REDE, Sixteen-String Jack, i. 3. The dashy, splashy, LEARY little stringer.

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1857. DUCANGE ANGLICUS, pseud. The Vulgar Tongue, ‘The Leary Man.’

	For bloaks to see
	That you’re a LEARY MAN.

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1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. LEERY. On guard; look out; wide awake.

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1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. 146. A ‘LEARY look,’ in which fear, defiance, and cunning are mixed up together.

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1888. J. RUNCIMAN, The Chequers, 85. The bastard gipsy smiled in LEARY fashion.

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2. (American).—Drunk. For synonyms, see DRINKS and SCREWED.

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