mire

See also: Mire, miré, mirė, mirë, mìre, and míre

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪɚ/, /ˈmaɪɹ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English mire, a borrowing from Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Norwegian 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 (countable and uncountable, 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.
   • 2017 April 2, Dafydd Pritchard, “Swansea City 0-0 Middlesbrough”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], London:

     Swansea seemed to be pulling clear of trouble with five wins in their first eight games following head coach Paul Clement's appointment, but two successive defeats had dragged the Swans back into the mire.

Synonyms

• (deep mud): peatland, quag

Hypernyms

• (deep mud): wetland

Hyponyms

• (deep mud): bog, fen

Derived terms

Terms derived from mire

• bemire
• enmire
• in the mire
• mire crow

• mire drum
• mireland
• miry

• pickmire
• quagmire
• wallow in the mire

Translations

deep mud

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 污泥 (zh) (wūní)

• Czech: močál m
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n
• Finnish: suo (fi), lieju (fi), muta (fi)
• French: fange (fr) f, bourbier (fr) m
• Galician: ludro m, untullo m, esteiro m, bulleiro (gl) m
• German: Morast (de) m, Schlamm (de) m, Matsch (de) m
• Greek: βούρκος (el) m (voúrkos)

  Ancient: βόρβορος m (bórboros)

• Hindi: कीचड़ (hi) m (kīcaŗ)

• Italian: fango (it) m, mota (it) f, limo (it) m
• Latvian: muklājs (lv) m, purvājs m, staignums m
• Maori: kene
• Navajo: hashtłʼish
• Occitan: fanga (oc), baldra f, fangàs m, fangalhàs m, baldrièr m, iga f, maresca f, sanhàs m
• Persian: گلزار‎‎ (fa) (gelzâr)
• Portuguese: lama (pt) f, lodo (pt) m, barro (pt) m
• Russian: топь (ru) f (topʹ), тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína)
• Scottish Gaelic: clàbar m
• Spanish: barrizal m, lodazal (es) m, fangal 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)
• Occitan: malpàs, malparada f, malabosena f, malora f

• Persian: باتلاق‎‎ (fa) (bâtlâq)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.

   to mire a horse or wagon

2. (intransitive) To sink into mud.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To weigh down.
4. (transitive) To soil with mud or foul matter.
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV, Scene 1,^[2]

     Why had I not with charitable hand

     Took up a beggar’s issue at my gates,

     Who smirch’d thus and mired with infamy,

     I might have said ‘No part of it is mine;

     This shame derives itself from unknown loins’?

Derived terms

• unmired

Synonyms

• (cause to become stuck in mud): bemire, enmire
• (soil with mud): bemire

Translations

to sink into mud

• Czech: zapadnout do bláta
• French: s'embourber (fr), s'enliser (fr)
• Maori: tapoko

• Occitan: fangassejar, fanguejar, s'enfangar, baudracar, baldracar, baldrejar, gaulhassar
• Russian: погрязнуть (ru) pf (pogrjaznutʹ)

Etymology 2

From Middle English mire, from Old English *mȳre, *mīere, from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ. Cognate to Old Norse maurr, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere (“ant”) (Dutch mier). All probably from Proto-Indo-European *morwi (“ant”)

Noun

mire (plural mires)

1. (obsolete) An ant.

Related terms

• pismire, antmire

Anagrams

• IMer, Meri, emir, meri, reim, riem, rime

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Asturian

Verb

mire

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

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Esperanto

Etymology

miri +‎ -e

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmire/
• Hyphenation: mi‧re
• Rhymes: -ire

Adverb

mire

1. in surprise, in awe, in an amazed way

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French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /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

Further reading

• “mire” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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

mi (“what?”) +‎ -re

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmirɛ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧re

Pronoun

mire

1. sublative singular of mi

   Mire gondolsz? ― What are you thinking about?

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Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʲɪɾʲə/

Noun

mire f (genitive singular mire)

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

Synonyms

• (madness, frenzy, mania): buile

Adjective

mire

1. genitive feminine singular of mear
2. comparative degree of mear

Mutation

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

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Italian

Noun

mire f

1. plural of mira

Anagrams

• meri, remi, rime

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Ladin

Verb

mire

1. first-person singular present indicative of mirer
2. first-person singular present subjunctive of mirer
3. third-person singular present subjunctive of mirer
4. third-person plural present subjunctive of mirer

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Latin

Participle

mīre

1. vocative masculine singular of mīrus

References

• mire in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• mire in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old Norse mýrr, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō.

Alternative forms

• myre, myer, muire, myrre, muyre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miːr/
• (SW England) IPA^(key): /myːr/

Noun

mire (plural mires)

2. Marshy or swampy land; a mire or peat.
3. A region of marshy or swampy land.
4. A muddy or dirt-covered region.
5. (figuratively) Iniquity, sinfulness; immoral behaviour.
6. (rare) A quagmire or conundrum.
7. (rare) A puddle or pond; a watery hollow.

Derived terms

• myren

Descendants

• English: mire (“swamp”)
• Scots: mire

References

• “mīre (n.(1))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-20.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English *mȳre, *mīere, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ.

Alternative forms

• myre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmiːr(ə)/

Noun

mire

2. ant

Derived terms

• pissemyre

Descendants

• English: mire (“ant”) (obsolete)

References

• “mīre (n.(2))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-20.

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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 singular mire, plural mirean)

1. merriment, mirth, frolic

Derived terms

• gille-mirein

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Spanish

Verb

mire

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.