leather

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The dressed or tanned hide of an animal.
• noun Any of various articles or parts made of dressed or tanned hide, such as a boot or strap.
• noun The flap of a dog's ear.
• transitive verb To cover wholly or in part with the dressed or tanned hide of an animal.
• transitive verb Informal To beat with a strap made of hide.
• adjective Made of, relating to, or resembling dressed or tanned animal hide.
• adjective Slang Of or relating to the wearing of leather, or patronized by people who wear leather, especially as a sexual fetish.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To furnish with leather; apply leather to; form into leather; tan.
• To beat or thrash with or as with a thong of leather.
• To beat; strike.
• noun In cricket, the ball.
• noun plural Wearing-apparel made of leather, as breeches, leggings, etc.
• noun One who wears ‘leathers.’
• noun The tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed skin of an animal; dressed hides or skins collectively.
• noun Human skin.
• noun A round piece, of tanned hide on the end of a fish-hook, designed to keep the bait from sliding up on the line.
• noun The loose hanging part of a dog's ear.
• noun Leather finished for use without artificial coloring, as that of which shoes are made for use in hot weather.
• noun Hence— Leather slightly colored, tinged red or yellowish-brown, for use in the same way.
• Consisting of leather; leathern: as, a leather glove.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb Obs. or Colloq. To beat, as with a thong of leather.
• adjective Of, pertaining to or made of leather; consisting of leather.
• noun The skin of an animal, or some part of such skin, with the hair removed, and tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for use; also, dressed hides, collectively.
• noun Ironical or Sportive The skin.
• noun an imitation of sole leather, made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc.
• noun (Zoöl.) , a variety of carp in which the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under Carp.
• noun (Zoöl.) A trigger fish (Balistes Carolinensis).
• noun (Bot.) a climbing plant (Clematis Viorna) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery sepals of a purplish color.
• noun (Bot.) a low shrub (Cassandra calyculata), growing in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy leaves.
• noun (Bot.) one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus Celmisia, which have white or buff tomentose leaves.
• noun (Zoöl.) See Leatherback.
• noun Linen cloth coated with India rubber.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing.
• noun A piece of the above used for polishing.
• noun colloquial A cricket ball or football.
• noun clothing made from the skin of animals, often worn by motorcycle riders.
• noun baseball A good defensive play
• adjective Made of leather.
• adjective Referring to one who wears leather clothing (motorcycle jacket, chaps over 501 jeans, boots), especially as a sign of sadomasochistic homosexuality.
• verb To cover with leather.
• verb To strike forcefully.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb whip with a leather strap
• noun an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning