different between jeer vs jeel

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d???/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d???/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Etymology 1

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 (verb)). Also compare German and Dutch gieren (“to laugh loudly”).

Noun

jeer (plural jeers)

1. A mocking remark or reflection.

   Synonyms: scoff, taunt, flout, 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.

Translations

Verb

jeer (third-person singular simple present jeers, present participle jeering, simple past and past participle jeered)

1. (intransitive, jeer at) To utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.
2. (transitive, archaic) To mock; treat with mockery; to taunt.

   • And if we cannot jeer them, we jeer ourselves.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• jeeringly

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare gear.

Noun

jeer (plural jeers)

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.

Derived terms

• jeer capstan

Translations

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish dír (“due, fit, proper”).

Adverb

jeer

1. indeed, verily, truly, actually

Related terms

• jeeragh
• jeerid
• jeerys

Mutation

Semai

Alternative forms

• jer

Etymology

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *?ur ~ *?uur ~ *?u?r ~ *?ir ~ *?i?r (“to descend”). Cognate with Central Mnong j??r, Khmu cù?r, Pear cer, Proto-Palaungic *?uur.

Verb

jeer

1. to fall

Synonyms

• tegòh
• yòòk

Derived terms

References

Somali

Pronunciation

Noun

jeer ?

1. hippopotamus

English

Etymology 1

Noun

jeel (plural jeels)

1. Alternative form of jheel
   • 1820, Walter Hamilton, A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Countries, Volume 1, page 246,

     The pieces of stagnant water may be divided into jeels which contain water throughout the year, and chaongre which dry up in the cold season.

   • 1827, East India Company, Journey across the Arracan Mountains, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Volume 23, page 16,

     On the banks of this jeel the party encamped, about two miles from the village.

   • 1827, The Burmese War: Operations on the Sihet Frontier, 1824, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies, Volume 24, page 551,

     The reports of some hircarrahs having induced a belief that a short passage might be discovered across the jeels from the Gogra towards Tilyn, Lieut. Fisher, of the Quarter-Master General's department, was despatched to reconnoitre the outlets from that river, accompanied by Lieut. Craigie and five sipahees, in two dingees.

Etymology 2

Manx jeeyl, jeeill ("damage"), cognate to Irish díobháil.

Noun

jeel

1. (Isle of Man) Damage; harm.
   • 1889, Thomas Edward Brown, The Manx Witch: And Other Poems, page 79:

     And the gel, you know, as freckened as freckened,

     Because of coorse she navar reckoned

     But Misthriss Banks could do the jeel ¹

     She was braggin she could, and she'd take and kneel

     On her bended knees, and she'd cuss — the baste !

     […]

     ¹ Damage.

   • 1908, Cushag (Josephine Kermode), Eunys, Or the Dalby Maid, page 16:

     An' first an' last upon the flure, an' spinnin' at the wheel,

     But that strange silence on her still of what had done the jeel.

   • 1924, Sophia Morrison, Edmund Goodwin, A vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx dialect,

     page 73, entry "Govvag":

     The jeel (damage) the govags is doin to the nets is urrov all marcy.

     page 188, entry "Traa-dy-liooar":

     An' the wan (one) that's doin all the jeel (damage) is wickad Traa-dy-liooar (Time-enough). (Cushag.)

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914) , “jeel”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume III (Hoop–O), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.