Wiktionary

were

See also: were-, we're, and wɛrɛ

EnglishEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English were, weren, from Old English wǣre, wǣron, wǣren, from Proto-Germanic *wēz-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. More at was.

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

stressed

unstressed

VerbEdit

were

  1. second-person singular simple past indicative of be
    John, you were the only person to see him.
  2. first/second/third-person plural simple past indicative of be
    We were about to leave.
    Mary and John, you were right.
    They were a fine group.
    They were to be the best of friends from that day on.
  3. first/second/third-person singular/plural simple present/past subjunctive of be
    I wish that it were Sunday.
    I wish that I were with you.
    • with “if” omitted, put first in an “if” clause:
      Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...)
      Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...)
    • 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      Maccabi would have been out of contention were it not for Stoke's profligacy, but their fortune eventually ran out as the visitors opened the scoring.
  4. (Northern England) first/third-person singular simple past indicative of be.
SynonymsEdit
  • (second-person singular past indicative, archaic) wast (used with “thou”)
  • (second-person singular imperfect subjunctive, archaic) wert (used with “thou”)

See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English were, wer, see wer.

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

NounEdit

were (plural weres)

  1. Alternative form of wer (“man; wergeld”)
    • 1799-1805, Sharon Trurner, History of the Anglo-Saxons
      Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were.
    • 1867, John Lingard, T. Young, Introduction to English History [...] arranged [...] by T. Young, page 19:
      If by that he failed to pay or give security for the were, or fine, at which murder was legally rated; he might be put to death by the relatives of the murdered man.
    • 1908, Frederic Jesup Stimson, The Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States, page 13:
      Written statutes busied themselves only with the amount of the were, or fine, or (for the first century after the Conquest) with the method of procedure.
    • 2004, James Fitzjames Stephen, A General View of the Criminal Law of England, →ISBN, page 12-13:
      The consequence of conviction was, the payment to the person injured, of a were, or penalty, proportioned to the offencel but though this was the ordinary course, the recovery of the were was not the only object of the proceedings. "The were," says Reeve, "in cases of homicide, and the fines that were paid in cases of theft of various kinds, were only to redeem the offender from the proper punishment of the law, which was death, and that was reddemable, not only by paying money, but by undergoing some personal pains; hence it is that we hear a great variety of corporal punishments..."...

Etymology 3Edit

Back-formation from werewolf and other terms in were-, from the same source as English wer, were (“man”) (above).

NounEdit

were (plural weres)

  1. (fandom slang) The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.

AnagramsEdit

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

were

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of weren

AnagramsEdit

FijianEdit

NounEdit

were

  1. garden

VerbEdit

were (wereca)

  1. to garden, to weed (wereca specifically)

IrarutuEdit

 
were

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

NounEdit

were

  1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Further readingEdit

Maku'aEdit

NounEdit

were

  1. water

ReferencesEdit

  • Aone van Engelenhoven, The position of Makuva among the Austronesian languages of Southwest Maluku and East Timor, in Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift, Pacific linguistics 601 (2009)

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old English wǣre (second-person singular indicative and subjunctive past of wesan).

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈwɛːr(ə)/, /ˈwɛr(ə)/

VerbEdit

were

  1. inflection of been:
    1. second-person singular indicative past
    2. singular subjunctive past
DescendantsEdit
  • English: were (dialectal war, ware)
  • Scots: war, waar, ware, waur, wur, wir

Etymology 2Edit

From weren.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

were (uncountable)

  1. wearing
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit

Etymology 3Edit

From a conflation of Old English wǣron and Old English wǣren.

VerbEdit

were

  1. Alternative form of weren

Etymology 4Edit

From Old English werre, wyrre.

NounEdit

were

  1. Alternative form of werre

MwaniEdit

NounEdit

were 5 (plural mawere)

  1. breast

Northern KurdishEdit

VerbEdit

were

  1. second-person singular imperative of hatin

OninEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

NounEdit

were

  1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Tocharian BEdit

NounEdit

were m

  1. smell, odor, scent, aroma

ToroEdit

NounEdit

were

  1. day

ReferencesEdit

UruangnirinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

NounEdit

were

  1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

YolaEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English were.

NounEdit

were

  1. wearing

ReferencesEdit

  • Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith
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