mare
nounnounnounnounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//mɛə//
- United States//mɛɚ//
- United States//ˈmɑɹ.eɪ//
- United States//ˈmɛɚ.i//
- United States//ˈmɑɹ.i//
- Australia//meː//
An adult female horse.
noun
- 1
An adult female horse.
But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge,[…].
- 2
slangA foolish woman.
The silly mare phoned your mother, talking about applying for a mortgage, and we don't want that, do we?
Etymology
From Middle English mare, meare, meir, mer, mere, meyre, mure, from Old English mīere (“female horse, mare”), from Proto-West Germanic *marhijā, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō (“female horse”), from *marhaz (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *márkos (“horse”). Cognates Cognate with Scots mere (“mare”), Saterland Frisian Märe (“mare”), West Frisian merje (“mare”), Dutch merrie (“mare”), German Mähre (“female horse”), Danish mær (“old mare”), Faroese mer (“mare”), Icelandic meri (“mare”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk merr (“mare”), Swedish mæhr, mær, mähr, märr (“mare”); also Breton marc'h (“horse”), Cornish margh (“horse”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic marc (“horse”), Welsh march (“horse”).
noun
- 1
historicalA type of evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; also, the feeling of suffocation felt during sleep, attributed to such a spirit.
- 2
A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience.
I'm having a complete mare today.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English mare, from Old English mare (“nightmare, monster”), from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ (“nightmare, incubus”), from Proto-Indo-European *mor- (“feminine evil spirit”). Doublet of mara. Cognates Akin to Dutch (dial.) mare, German (dial.) Mahr, Old Norse mara ( > Danish mare, Swedish mara (“incubus, nightmare”); also Old Irish Morrígan (“phantom queen”), Albanian merë (“horror”), Polish zmora (“nightmare”), Czech mura (“nightmare, moth”), Greek Μόρα (Móra).
noun
- 1
A large, dark plain, which may have the appearance of a sea, such as those on the Moon.
- 2
On Saturn's moon Titan, any of several lakes which are large expanses of what is thought to be liquid hydrocarbons.
Kraken Mare (a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan which is slightly larger than the Caspian Sea)
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin mare (“sea”). Doublet of maar and mere (“a body of standing water”).
noun
- 1
Variant of mayorobsoleteObsolete form of mayor.
- 2
Variant of mairobsoleteObsolete form of mair.
Etymology
See mayor.
Forms
- plural
- mares, maria