teer

Borrowed from French tirer (“to draw, to pull”). Compare English tire.

• enPR: tîr, tēr
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɪə̯/, /tɪː/; /tiːɹ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɪ(ə̯)ɹ/; /tiɹ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tɪɹ/; /tiɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /tɪə̯/; /tiːɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /tiə̯/; /tiːɹ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /tiɹ/; /tiɹ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ʈɪjɜ̯(ː)(ɾ)/, /ʈiːɾ/; /ʈiːɾ/
• Hyphenation: teer

teer (third-person singular simple present teers, present participle teering, simple past and past participle teered)

1. (transitive) To stir, as a calico-printer's sieve.

• “teer, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “teer”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.
• “teer, v.”, in Collins English Dictionary, accessed 7 March 2026.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “teer, v.”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes V (Simular–Z), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 6211, column 2.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “teer, v.”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 6211, column 2.

• TREE, Tree, reet, rete, tree

• IPA^(key): /teːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːr

teer m or n (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. tar

-general:

-types of tar:

• Berbice Creole Dutch: tere
• Negerhollands: taer
• → Caribbean Javanese: tir
• → Indonesian: ter

From Middle Dutch teer, contraction of teder, teeder, from Old Dutch *tidar, from Proto-Germanic *tidaraz. Doublet of teder. Cognate to Middle English teere.

teer (comparative teerder, superlative teerst)

1. tender, delicate

• Teer tends to be used in sense of “easily damaged”, while the doublet teder is used in the sense of “fond, gentle”. For example, een tere gezondheid (“a delicate health”), but een teder moment (“a tender moment”).

• Negerhollands: teer, teeri

teer m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. tenderness

teer

1. inflection of teren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Over time, teer was also used to refer to tuberculosis, analogously to English consumption.

teer m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. the act of digesting or being consumed
2. tuberculosis

From Middle Dutch tree, from Old Dutch *trio, *treo, from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree, wood”), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”). Cognate with English tree, Danish træ.

teer m (plural teren, diminutive teertje n)

1. (obsolete) tree (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

• appelteer, elzenteer

• eert, eter, reet, tere, tree

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

teer

1. singular imperative of teeren
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of teeren

From Old English tēar, tǣr, tæher, teagor, from Proto-West Germanic *tahr.

• teere, ter, tere
• tær, tear (Early Middle English)
• tyer, tyear, tyar (Kent)

• IPA^(key): /tɛ̝ːr/

teer (plural teres or (early) teren)

1. A tear (drop of liquid from the eyes):
   1. A tear as a symptom of disease or injury.
   2. An emotionally-triggered tear (e.g. ecstasy, remorse, sadness, sympathy)
2. A drop of liquid resembling a teardrop.
3. (figuratively) The feeling of teariness or distress.

• This noun usually appears in the plural.

• teren
• tery

• English: tear
• Middle Scots: tear, tere, teir, tichwr, tychir
  • Scots: tear, taer, tare, teir

• “tēr(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 25 December 2018.

Borrowed from Middle Dutch têer, alternative form of têder, têeder (whence modern Dutch teder), from Old Dutch *tidar, from Proto-Germanic *tidaraz.

• teere, ter, tere

• IPA^(key): /tɛːr/

teer

1. Of good quality or manners.

• English: tear, tare (“good flax”) (obsolete)

• “tēr, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 25 December 2018.

teer

1. alternative form of ter (“tar”)

teer

1. alternative form of teren (“to ruin by removing or splitting”)

teer

1. alternative form of tẽer

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “teer”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2026), “teer”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa

teer

1. indefinite plural of te

• eter