sire
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English sire, from Old French sire, the nominative singular of seignor; from Latin senior, from senex. Doublet of senior, seigneur, seignior, sir, and monsieur.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
sire (plural sires)
- A lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign.
- A male animal that has fathered a particular offspring (especially used of domestic animals and/or in biological research).
- (obsolete) A father; the head of a family; the husband.
- c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
- And raise his issue, like a loving sire.
- (obsolete) A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
- 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, OCLC 1156441409, stanza IV, page 8:
- Most musical of mourners, weep again! / Lament anew, Urania!—He died, / Who was the sire of an immortal strain, […]
Coordinate termsEdit
- (male animal): dam
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
sire (third-person singular simple present sires, present participle siring, simple past and past participle sired)
- (transitive, of a male) to father; to beget.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 6:
- In these travels, my father sired thirteen children in all, four boys and nine girls.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 6:
TranslationsEdit
AnagramsEdit
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
VerbEdit
sire
- (archaic) adorn
- (archaic, by extension, especially in the passive participle) endow with a favorable quality
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French sire (nominative form), from Vulgar Latin *seior (used as a term of address), a contracted form of Latin senior (compare French seigneur, derived from the accusative form), perhaps influenced by maior. Doublet of senior.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
sire m (plural sires)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “sire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
ItalianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Old French sire. See also sere. Doublet of signore.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
sire m (invariable)
AnagramsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French sire, nominative singular of seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of senyour.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
sire (plural sires)
- Used preceding the name or title of a knight, noble, or cleric.
- A respectful term of address for a noble or gentleman.
- A noble or lord; one of high station.
- A husband as the head of a household.
- A father as one's progenitor.
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “sī̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old FrenchEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
sire m
PaliEdit
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
sire
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
sire m (uncountable)
DeclensionEdit
Serbo-CroatianEdit
VerbEdit
sire (Cyrillic spelling сире)
SloveneEdit
NounEdit
sire
- accusative plural of sir