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Mare
Definitions
- 1 A diminutive of the female given names Mary, Maria, Marianne, or other female names beginning with Mar-, from Hebrew.
- 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 A 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. historical, obsolete
- 3 A large, dark plain, which may have the appearance of a sea, such as those on the Moon.
- 4 Obsolete form of mayor. alt-of, obsolete
- 5 female equine animal wordnet
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 A foolish woman. Ireland, UK, derogatory, slang
"The silly mare phoned your mother, talking about applying for a mortgage, and we don't want that, do we?"
- 7 A nightmare; a frustrating or terrible experience. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, colloquial
"I'm having a complete mare today."
- 8 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)"
- 9 Obsolete form of mair. alt-of, obsolete
- 10 a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English mare, mere, from Old English mīere (“female horse, mare”), from Proto-West Germanic *marhijā, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō (“female horse”), from *marhaz (“horse”). Cognates See also Scots mere, meir, mear (“mare”), North Frisian mar (“mare, horse”), West Frisian merje (“mare”), Dutch merrie (“mare”), Danish mær (“mare”), Swedish märr (“mare”), Icelandic meri (“mare”), German Mähre (“decrepit old horse”)), Old English mearh.
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).
Borrowed from Latin mare (“sea”). Doublet of maar and mere (“a body of standing water”).
See mayor.
See also for "mare"
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