different between colourful vs lairy

English

Adjective

colourful (comparative more colourful, superlative most colourful)

1. Britain standard spelling of colorful.
   • 1895, The Annual of the British School at Athens

     It was a colourful vase with red and white hoops on the lid, and red bands above and below the main frieze. These bands also carry a metope pattern in white of triple lines and blobs, which can just be distinguished on the photographs.

   • 1895, H. Walter Staner and Henry Sturmey, The Autocar

     One of the most colourful people in motor racing, he writes in a colourful manner.

   • 2002, news.bbc.co.uk

     Hussain celebrated reaching his ton with a gesture towards the media centre, pointing to the number three on the back of his shirt and offering some colourful language.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???i/

Etymology 1

Variation of leery, originally Cockney slang.

Adjective

lairy (comparative lairier, superlative lairiest)

1. (Britain) Touchy, aggressive or confrontational, usually while drunk.

Etymology 2

Thought to be from leery (“knowing, streetwise”).

Adjective

lairy (comparative lairier, superlative lairiest)

1. (Australia) Vulgar and flashy.
   • 1983, National Book Council (Australia), Australian Book Review, Issues 48-57, page 29,

     He was lairy alright, resplendent in a purple blazer and pink trousers.

   • 2008, Helen Garner, True Stories, page 255,

     They had no wedding party, only an Australian couple in their sixties, the woman in a great deal of pancake and blusher and a lairy fur jacket.

   • 2009, Sally Neighbour, The Mother of Mohammed: An Australian Woman?s Extraordinary Journey Into Jihad, page 176,

     Sungkar told Rabiah he thought of her as he rode to freedom on his motor scooter through the green wrought-iron gates, disguised in a pair of blue jeans and a lairy short-sleeved batik shirt: ‘Rabiah reckoned the safari suit was bad—if only she could see me now’.

2. (Australia) Socially unacceptable.

Derived terms

• lair
• lairiser

References

Anagrams

• airly, riyal