ware

See also: Ware, wãrẽ, warē, wäre, and -ware

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ware, war, from Old English wær, from Proto-Germanic *waraz.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: wĕr, IPA^(key): /wɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: wear, where (wine-whine merger)

Adjective

ware (comparative more ware, superlative most ware)

1. (poetic) Aware.

Usage notes

Replaced by intensified form aware.

Derived terms

• aware
• beware
• unware

Noun

ware (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The state of being aware; heed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From Middle English ware, from Old English waru, from Proto-Germanic *warō (“attention”) as in beware, in the sense of “an object of care, a valuable”, from Proto-Indo-European *wer-, whence also ward. Cognate with Dutch waar (“goods offered for sale or use”) and Swedish vara, with the same meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: wĕr, IPA^(key): /wɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: wear, where (wine-whine merger)

Noun

ware (usually uncountable, plural wares)

1. (uncountable, usually in combination) Goods or a type of goods offered for sale or use.
   • 1923, John Lord, Capital and steam-power, 1750-1800‎^[1]:

     Astbury was the more successful and made frequent journeys to London, where he sold his ware and obtained further orders.

   • 2002 March 28, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     On Sunday, a Mr. Stephen Muturi Kamau, aged 20 years, was shot dead at Dandora while he was selling his ware. This is a well known hawker. He has been hawking his ware in Dandora.

   • 2011, Tonya Kappes, Carpe Bead'em‎^[2]:

     What in the world am I going to do with tarnished silver ware? The deeper I dig, I pull out more silver with carved handles.

   • 2012, Julie Watson, Frommer's Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island‎^[3], page 179:

     Artisans sell their ware in the historic district at the lower level of the Soldier's Barracks.

2. (in the plural) See wares.
3. (uncountable) Pottery or metal goods.

   damascene ware, tole ware

4. (countable, archaeology) A style or genre of artifact.
5. (Ireland) Crockery.

Derived terms

• Biddery ware
• Corded Ware culture
• -ware

Translations

product

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 货物 (zh)

• Esperanto: varo (eo)
• Finnish: tavara (fi), kauppatavara (fi)
• German: Ware (de) f
• Hungarian: áru (hu)
• Hunsrik: Waar f
• Ido: varo (io)
• Indonesian: perangkat (id)

• Italian: merce (it), mercanzia (it)
• Japanese: 品 (shina)
• Norwegian: vare (no)
• Polish: towar (pl) m
• Russian: това́р (ru) m (továr)
• Spanish: mercancía (es) f
• Swedish: vara (sv) c
• Turkish: emtia (tr), meta (tr), eşya (tr), mal (tr), malmalzeme

Etymology 3

From Middle English waren (“to be ware, be on guard, be mindful, protect, guard”), from Old English warian, from Proto-Germanic *warōną. Cognate with Saterland Frisian woarje (“to guard”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: wĕr, IPA^(key): /wɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: wear, where (wine-whine merger)

Verb

ware (third-person singular simple present wares, present participle waring, simple past and past participle wared)

1. (obsolete or dialectal) To be ware or mindful of something.
   • 1450, Palladius on Husbondrieː

     Ware the horn and heels lest they fling a flap to thee.

   • c. 1450, Who Ðat Liste Lokeː

     Ware avoutrer untrue; Such love was never good ne may be true.

   • c. 1470, The Macro Playsː

     ‘Ware that!’ quoth Ser Wyly.

2. (obsolete) To protect or guard (especially oneself); to be on guard, be wary.

   Ware thee. ― Watch yourself.

Translations

beware of something

• Ido: -aj

• Italian: diffidare (it), stare all'erta

Adjective

ware (comparative more ware, superlative most ware)

1. (obsolete) Wary; cautious.
   • Bible, 2 Timothy 4:15

     Of whom be thou ware also.

   • (Can we date this quote by Latimer and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He is ware enough; he is wily and circumspect for stirring up any sedition.

Derived terms

• wary

Related terms

• ward

Etymology 4

From Middle English ware, wore (as in sewor (“seaweed”), from Old English sǣwār (“seaweed”)), from Old English wār (“seaweed”). Cognate with Dutch wier (“seaweed”), Middle Dutch wier (“seaweed”).

Noun

ware

1. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Seaweed.

Derived terms

• ware goose

Etymology 5

Verb

ware (third-person singular simple present wares, present participle waring, simple past and past participle wared)

1. (nautical) To wear, or veer.

Etymology 6

Verb

ware

1. Old eye dialect spelling of were.
   • c. 1815, Mary Woody, A true account of Nayomy Wise

     A larg concors ware standing round

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for ware in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• -wear, Wear, arew, wear

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Afrikaans

Verb

ware

1. imperfect subjunctive of wees

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋaːrə/

Adjective

ware

1. Inflected form of waar

Verb

ware

1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of zijn
2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of waren

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Hausa

Verb

wārḕ (grade 4)

1. to separate things, to set things aside
2. to secede

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Japanese

Romanization

ware

1. Rōmaji transcription of われ

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Maori

Adjective

ware

1. ignorant

Noun

ware

1. saliva

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Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch *wara, from Proto-Germanic *warō.

Noun

wāre f

1. merchandise, product

Inflection

Weak feminine
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	wāre	wāren
Accusative	wāre	wāren
Genitive	wāren	wāren
Dative	wāre, wāren	wāren

Descendants

• Dutch: waar
• Limburgish: waar

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

wâre

1. first/third-person singular past subjunctive of wēsen

Further reading

• “ware (III)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “ware (I)”, in Middelniederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French vair.

Noun

ware

1. Alternative form of veir

Etymology 2

From Old English werre, wyrre.

Noun

ware

1. Alternative form of werre

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Scots

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [wer], [war], [voːr]

Noun

ware (plural wares)

1. spring, springtime
2. cold weather in springtime

Synonyms

• spring

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [weːr]

Noun

ware (plural wares)

1. a type of seaweed

Derived terms

• warebrak