Carr

//kɑː// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any marsh; marshy ground, swampland.

    "The marsh lands or ‘carrs’ that covered the low-lying floor of the vale could not be cultivated and the poorly drained flanks of the vale would be best used as pasture."

  2. 2
    Archaic form of car (“wheeled vehicle”). alt-of, archaic
  3. 3
    Rock.
  4. 4
    In particular, a marsh or fen formed when the litter of decaying reeds (e.g. in a lake) raises the ground level above the water, allowing more vegetation like sedges and then low bushes or trees to grow; a marshy woodland. (Compare marsh, swamp, bog, fen.)
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A northern English habitational surname from Old Norse derived from Old Norse kjarr (“brushwood”). countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic, a variant of Kerr. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A surname from Irish, anglicized from Irish Ó Carra, Ó Cairre. countable, uncountable

    "That’s what prompted new FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to send a “letter of inquiry” to CBS, asking the network to hand over the unedited tapes and transcript."

  4. 4
    An Irish surname, a variant of Kilcar. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Weld County, Colorado; named for railroad official Robert E. Carr. countable, uncountable
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    A place in the United States:; A township in Clark County, Indiana. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A place in the United States:; A township in Jackson County, Indiana. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A place in the United States:; A township in Durham County, North Carolina. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Orange County, North Carolina. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    A place in the United States:; A river in West Greenwich, Rhode Island; flowing 6 km from Carr Pond to the Big River. countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    A place in England:; A suburb of Ramsbottom, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SD7817), and two other locations in Greater Manchester. countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    A place in England:; A hamlet in Laughton en le Morthen parish, Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire (OS grid ref SK5190). countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
autoautoautomobileautomobilecarriagegondola

Example

More examples

"Carrà uses linking expressions."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English kerr and Middle English carr meaning meadow, field or grassland of a low lying variety, itself from Old English carr; possibly related to Old Norse kjarr. Compare Swedish kärr, Icelandic kjarr.

Etymology 2

From Old Northumbrian; possibly adopted from a Cumbric *carreg, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂er- (“hard”).

Etymology 3

* As an English and Scottish surname, variant of Kerr. * As an Irish surname, from the root of the surname Keary, from ciar (“black”); compare Carey. * Also as an Irish surname, named after a priest Cathair (compare cathair (“fort”)) * Also as an Irish surname, from a personal name derived from corr (“pointed, projected point”).

Related phrases

Batley Carralder carr

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.