liar
nounUK /ˈlaɪ.ə/ · US /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English lier, liere, lyere, liȝer, lieȝer, legher, from Old English lēgere, lēogere (“liar, false witness, hypocrite”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugārī, from Proto-Germanic *leugārijaz (“liar”), from *leuganą (“to lie”) + *-ārijaz, equivalent to lie + -ar. More at lie.
1
Someone who tells a lie; especially, a person who frequently lies.
- He simply said, "We know, the Big Satan is a big liar."1995, Syed Ahmed Irshad Tirmazi, Profiles of Intelligence, page 79:
- She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough![…]What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything?[…]’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2
Nautical, Transport Obsolete A swabber responsible for cleaning the outside parts of the ship rather than the cabins, a role traditionally assigned to a person caught telling a lie the previous week.
- The Swabber is to keep the Cabbins, and all the Rooms of the Ship clean within board, and the Liar to do the like without board. The Liar holds his Place but for a week; and he that is first taken with a Lie upon a Monday morning, […] for that week he is under the Swabber, and meddles not with making clean the Ship within board, but without.1703, Sir William Monson, Sir William Monson's Naval Tracts in Six Books, page 348:
- The swabber, perhaps the lowliest position on the ship, was responsible for cleaning the decks. By tradition, each Monday a new crewmember was appointed the liar—the first person caught telling a lie the previous week.2005, Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and Her Passengers, page 35:
- Synonyms
- bluffer, bullshitter, contradictor, deceiver, fabricator, fabulist, falsifier, fibber, goofer, gossiper, nonsenser, red flagger, storyteller, tall tale teller
- Derived terms
- barefaced liar, Bliar, liar dice, liar liar pants on fire, liar loan, liar paradox, liar's dividend, nonliar, pathological liar, the devil is a liar