Leath″er (lĕt͡h″ẽr), n. [OE. lether, AS. leðer; akin to D. leder, leêr, G. leder, OHG. ledar, Icel. leðr, Sw. läder, Dan. læder.] 1. The skin of an animal, or some part of such skin, tanned, tawed, or otherwise dressed for use; also, dressed hides, collectively.
2. The skin.
☞ Leather is much used adjectively in the sense of made of, relating to, or like, leather.
Leather board, an imitation of sole leather, made of leather scraps, rags, paper, etc. — Leather carp(Zoöl.), a variety of carp in which the scales are all, or nearly all, absent. See Illust. under Carp. — Leather jacket. (Zoöl.) (a) A California carangoid fish (Oligoplites saurus). (b) A trigger fish (Balistes Carolinensis). — Leather flower(Bot.), a climbing plant (Clematis Viorna) of the Middle and Southern States having thick, leathery sepals of a purplish color. — Leather leaf(Bot.), a low shrub (Cassandra calyculata), growing in Northern swamps, and having evergreen, coriaceous, scurfy leaves. — Leather plant(Bot.), one or more New Zealand plants of the composite genus Celmisia, which have white or buff tomentose leaves. — Leather turtle. (Zoöl.) See Leatherback. — Vegetable leather. (a) An imitation of leather made of cotton waste. (b) Linen cloth coated with India rubber. Ure.