What it means
Rowdy, loud, mouthy and edging towards aggressive, like someone’s had a couple pints and now wants everyone to know about it. You’ll hear it about a bloke, a crowd, or a whole pub when the volume’s up and the tempers are rising. Basically a little warning label that says this could kick off, so mind your drink and your teeth.
Usage examples
"Place got proper lairy after the football, some lad’s squaring up over a spilt lager. We legged it to the chippy before it turned into WWE"
"It all kicked off when a few lairy lads started shouting at the bar staff over a spilled pint, proper embarrassing."
Where it comes from
Lairy is loud, rowdy and a bit in your face, the mate who gets too boisterous after a few pints and starts mouthing off. It can also mean flashy or over the top. Probably from leery, wary, twisted round to mean the one others get wary of. Very British, the word for that edge between lively and trouble.
Other ways to say it
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