leveret

From Anglo-Norman, diminutive of levre, from Old French lievre, from Latin lepus.

leveret (plural leverets)

1. A young hare.
   • 1623, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Act V, Scene 5,

     […] Shall I die like a leveret,

     Without any resistance?—Help, help, help!

     I am slain!

   • 1686, Edmund Waller, “Of a Tree cut in Paper” in Poems, &c. written upon several occasions, and to several persons by Edmond Waller, London: H. Herringman,

     Fair Hand that can on Virgin-paper write,

     Yet from the stain of Ink preserve it white,

     Whose travel o’er that Silver Field does show,

     Like track of Leveretts in morning Snow;

   • 1720, Alexander Pope (translator), The Iliad of Homer, Book 10,

     As when two skilful hounds the leveret wind;

     Or chase through woods obscure the trembling hind;

     Now lost, now seen, they intercept his way,

     And from the herd still turn the flying prey:

     So fast, and with such fears, the Trojan flew;

     So close, so constant, the bold Greeks pursue.

   • 1897, H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 16,

     They heard Marvel squeal like a caught leveret, and forthwith they were clambering over the bar to his rescue.