ware

See also: Ware, wäre, and -ware

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /wɛə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: wĕr, IPA^(key): /wɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

Etymology 1

Old English wær.

Adjective

ware (comparative more ware, superlative most ware)

1. (poetic) aware

Usage notes

Replaced by intensified form aware.

Derived terms

• beware

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

Old English waru, from Proto-Germanic *warō (“attention”) as in beware, in sense “object of care, valuable”, from Proto-Indo-European *wer-, whence also ward. Cognate with Dutch waar (“goods offered for sale or use”).

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,:

     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

• Corded Ware culture
• -ware

Translations

product

• Esperanto: varo (eo)
• Finnish: tavara (fi), kauppatavara (fi)
• Hungarian: áru (hu)

• Russian: товар (ru) m (továr)
• Spanish: mercancía (es) f
• Swedish: vara (sv) c

Etymology 3

From Old English warian

Verb

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

1. (obsolete or dialectal) To beware of something.

Translations

beware of something

• Ido: -aj

Adjective

ware (comparative more ware, superlative most ware)

1. (obsolete) wary; cautious
   • Bible, 2 Tim. iv. 15

     Of whom be thou ware also.

   • Latimer

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

Derived terms

• wary

Related terms

• ward

Etymology 4

From Old English war (“seaweed”). Cognate with Dutch wier (“seaweed”), Middle Dutch wier (“seaweed”).

Noun

ware

1. (obsolete, UK, 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.

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.

Anagrams

• wear, Wear

---

Afrikaans

Verb

ware

1. Imperfect subjunctive form of wees

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ware

1. Inflected form of waar

Verb

ware

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

---

Hausa

Verb

wārḕ (grade 4)

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

---

Japanese

Romanization

ware

1. rōmaji reading of われ

---

Maori

Adjective

ware

1. ignorant

Noun

ware

1. saliva

---

Middle Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːrə/

Noun

ware f

1. merchandise, product

Declension

Declension of ware (weak)

	Singular	Plural
nominative	ware	waren
accusative	ware	waren
genitive	waren	waren
dative	ware(n)	waren

Descendants

• Dutch: waar

---

Scots

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [wer], [war], [voːr]

Noun

ware (plural wares)

1. spring, springtime
2. cold weather in springtime

Synonyms

• spring

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [weːr]

Noun

ware (plural wares)

1. a type of seaweed

Derived terms

• warebrak