mire

See also miré, and mirë

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmaɪə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈmaɪɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(r)

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Icelandic mýri, Dutch *mier (in placenames, for example Mierlo). Related to Proto-Germanic *meusą, whence Old English mēos, and Proto-Germanic *musą, whence Old English mos (English moss).

Noun

mire (plural mires)

1. Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
   • When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was invisible to all eyes but Prospero’s) would come slyly and pinch him, and sometimes tumble him down in the mire. (Charles Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare, Hatier, coll. « Les Classiques pour tous » n° 223, p. 51)
2. An undesirable situation, a predicament.

Derived terms

• miry
• in the mire
• quagmire

Translations

deep mud

• Czech: močál (cs) m
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n
• Finnish: suo (fi), lieju (fi), muta (fi)
• French: fange (fr) f
• German: Morast (de) m, Schlamm (de) m, Matsch (de) m
• Greek: βούρκος (el) (voúrkos) m 

  Ancient: βόρβορος m

• Navajo: hashtłʼish
• Persian: گلزار (fa) (gelzâr)
• Russian: топь (ru) (top') f , трясина (ru) (trjasína) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: clàbar (gd) m
• Spanish: barrizal (es) m, lodazal (es) m, fangal (es) m, barro (es) m, fango (es) m, cieno (es) m

an undesirable situation

• Greek: λάσπη (el) f (láspi), βούρκος (el) m (voúrkos), τέλμα (el) n (télma), βόρβορος (el) m (vórvoros)

• Persian: باتلاق (fa) (bâtlâq)

Verb

mire (third-person singular simple present mires, present participle miring, simple past and past participle mired)

1. To weigh down.
2. To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.

   to mire a horse or wagon

3. To soil with mud or foul matter.
   • Shakespeare

     Smirched thus and mired with infamy.

Etymology 2

Perhaps related to Middle Dutch miere (Dutch mier). Cognate with Old Norse maurr, Danish myre.

Noun

mire (plural mires)

1. (obsolete) An ant.

Anagrams

• emir, Meri, rime

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French

Etymology

From Italian mira, from mīrō (“I wonder at”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /miʁ/

Noun

mire f (plural mires)

1. (archaic) aim (action of aiming)
2. foresight (of rifle)
3. target (literal, figurative)
4. (television) test pattern

Verb

mire

1. first-person singular present indicative of mirer
2. third-person singular present indicative of mirer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of mirer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of mirer
5. second-person singular imperative of mirer

Anagrams

• émir, Remi, Rémi, rime, rimé

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Galician

Verb

mire

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of mirar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of mirar

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Hungarian

Etymology

From the interrogative pronoun mi + -re

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmirɛ/
• Hyphenation: mi‧re

Pronoun

mire

1. onto what

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Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪrʲɪ/

Noun

mire f

1. quickness, rapidity
2. spiritedness, ardor
3. madness, frenzy, mania

Declension

Declension of mire

Fourth declension

Bare forms (no plural of this noun) Case Singular Nominative mire Vocative a mhire Genitive mire Dative mire

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an mhire Genitive na mire Dative leis an mire don mhire

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
mire	mhire	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Synonyms

• (madness, frenzy, mania): buile

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Italian

Noun

mire f

1. Plural form of mira

Anagrams

• meri, remi, rime

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Latin

Participle

mīre

1. vocative masculine singular of mīrus

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Portuguese

Verb

mire

1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of mirar.
2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present subjunctive of mirar.
3. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of mirar.
4. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of mirar.

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Romanian

Etymology

Possibly a substratum word, or from Greek μύρον ("ointment, uncture, holy oil"), relating to the ceremony of the Orthodox wedding. Another theory suggests Latin miles (“soldier”), possibly mirroring semantic evolution of the rare voină ("husband"), from Slavic vojnŭ ("warrior").

Possibly related to Albanian mirë ‘good’. Replaced mărit, which only survived in some regional dialects.

Noun

mire m (plural miri)

1. bridegroom

Derived terms

• mireasă

See also

• mir
• soț

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

mire f (genitive mire, plural mirean)

1. merriment, mirth, [[frolic]

Derived terms

• gille-mirein

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Spanish

Verb

mire (infinitive mirar)

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of mirar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of mirar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of mirar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of mirar.