Past tense of 'fleer'; smiled or laughed mockingly at; jeered or sneered.
Regular past tense formation from 'fleer' (Old Norse origin) using the '-ed' suffix, which became the standard English marker for past tense during the Middle English period.
Though 'fleered' is archaic, it survives in Shakespeare because he needed a word with a specific sneer-like quality that 'smiled mockingly' couldn't capture in the same number of syllables for his meter.
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