Jeer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dÊ’ir/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

Perhaps a corruption of cheer ("to salute with cheers"), taken in an ironical sense; or more probably from Dutch gekscheren ("to jeer", literally to shear the fool), from gek ("a fool") (see geck) + scheren ("to shear") (see shear).

Full definition of jeer

Noun

1. A railing remark or reflection; a scoff; a taunt; a biting jest; a flout; a jibe; mockery.
• 1711, Jonathan Swift, The Fable of Midas, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol XII, Sir Walter Scott, ed., Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1824, pages 302-5,Midas, exposed to all their jeers, Had lost his art, and kept his ears.

Verb

1. (intransitive, jeer at) To utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.
• Edmund Spenser,But when he saw her toy and gibe and jeer.
• 2011, October 1, Phil McNulty, Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool, At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.
2. (transitive, archaic) To mock; treat with mockery; to taunt; to flout.
• Ben JonsonAnd if we cannot jeer them, we jeer ourselves.

Synonyms

• (to utter sarcastic remarks) scoff, sneer
• (to treat with scoffs) deride, flout, gibe, mock, ridicule

Compare gear.

Noun

1. (nautical) A gear; a tackle.
2. (nautical, in the plural) An assemblage or combination of tackles, for hoisting or lowering the yards of a ship.
• 1984, James Lees, The masting and rigging of English ships of war, 1625-1860, In the nineteenth century, 1811 to be exact, the jeers were unrove after the yard was slung, the weight of the yard being borne by chain slings. The jeers used then were a treble block lashed to the mast head through a hole in the center of the top

Derived terms

• jeer capstan