Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a show-off, one who dresses flashily; also attrib.

1928		implied in lair v.
1934		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 11 Aug. 16/2: Heard one airing his tonsils at the Sports Ground by telling Dave Brown he was a ‘lair’ for side stepping round behind the posts for a try.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 42: Lair, a flashily-dressed man.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 30: We must have looked a pair of lairs.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 164: The other, younger man was of the tough lare type, in rather soiled brown trousers and a white silk shirt.
1962		‘David Forrest’ Hollow Woodheap 13: ‘Mug lair!’ yelled the gentleman, ‘You might have killed a bloke!’.
1965		D. Martin Hero of Too 319: He hated Delaney for the biggest lair out of Queensland.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 73: Turn it up Wrecker, why be a bloody lair.
1971		F.J. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah (1975) 21: She better watch herself. He’s a lair, Flo, a mug lair at heart.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 34: Lair: A flash bastard who plays up like billy-oh and dresses up like a pox doctor’s clerk.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 64: He was a full-on little lair.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 90: ‘If you hear a bloke referred to as a ‘lair’ that means he’s usually someone with a bit of colour who likes to do a bit of skiting if he’s backed a winner at a bit of odds and therefore thinks he’s a half-pie genius’.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 9: A pair of lairs go up and danced on the bonnet of the Chev.

2. behaviour considered to be showing off; also attrib.

1965		W. Grout My Country’s Keeper 139: People thought I did it ‘lairising’- being a show-off – as we say at home. It seemed to them I had caught the ball and spilled it only when throwing it in the air, a favourite flourish of ’keepers but branded a ‘lair act’ by many Aussie spectators.
1989		M. Walker How to Kiss a Crocodile 27: Gee, there was a lot of lair in them too! They are very quick to show off what they’re made of.