▪ I. † dear, n.1 Obs.
In 3–4 dere.
[app. repr. an unrecorded OE. *d{iacu}eru, *déoru = OHG. tiurî, MHG. tiure, OLG. diuri fem. preciousness, glory, high value, dearness, dearth. Cf. dear a.1]
Dearness, dearth.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 416 Gret..dere of þyng þe seuene ȝer me say. c 1300 Havelok 824 A strong dere Bigan to rise of korn of bred. Ibid. 841, I wene that we deye mone For hunger, þis dere is so strong. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16419 In his tyme failled þe corn..Of þat defaute cam gret dere [et en après fu la cherté]. |
▪ II. dear, a.1 and n.2
(dɪə(r))
Forms: 1 d{iacu}ore, déore, d{yacu}re, 2–3 deore, 2 dære, 3–6 dere, (3 dure, diȝere, 4 dir, diere, dyere), 4–5 der, 4–7 deere, (4 duere, 5 deure), 5–6 deyr, 5–7 deir, 6–7 deare, 6– dear; 5–6 Sc. compar. darrer, superl. darrest.
[OE. déore, earlier d{iacu}ore; in early WS. d{iacu}ere, late WS. d{yacu}re (but also déore as in non-WS.); a Com. Teut. adj., = OFris. diore, diure (WFris. djoer, EFris. dǖr). MDu. diere, dûre (Du. dier beloved, diuer high-priced), OS. diuri (MLG. düre, LG. dǖr), OHG. tiuri glorious, distinguished, worthy, costly (MHG. tiure, tiur, MG. türe, Ger. teuer), ON. d{yacu}rr worthy, precious, costly (Sw., Da. dyr); Goth. not recorded. These forms point to OTeut. type *deur-jo-, *diur-jo-.]
A. adj. I. Of persons:
† 1. a. Glorious, noble, honourable, worthy. Obs.
| a 1000 Riddles xxxiv. (Gr.), Is min modor mæᵹþa cynnes þæs deorestan. c 1000 Ags. Ps. cxvii. 10 On Dryhtnes naman deorum. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 445 To-ward þe derrest on þe dece he dressez þe face. 1375 Cant. de Creatione 701 in Anglia I, I am Michel, þe angel dere Ordeyned abouen man. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1601 Þe dere kynge hyme selfene Comaundyd syr Cadore with his dere knyghttes..To ryde with þe Romaynes. a 1400–50 Alexander 4644, I, sir Dyndyn þe derrest at duells in þis Ile, Þe best of þe bragmeyns. c 1450 Holland Howlat 281 With dukis and with digne lordis, darrest in dale. 1595 T. Edwardes Cephalus & P., L'Envoy (1878) 61–2 Oh deere sonnes of stately kings. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 31 Corriuals and deare men Of estimation and command. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. v. iii. 27 Life euery man holds deere, but the deere man Holds honor farre more precious, deere, then life. |
b. Often used absol.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1394 Dere droȝen þer-to & vpon des metten. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. i, Wythe dukys, and with dosiperus, that with the deure dwellus. |
2. a. Regarded with personal feelings of high estimation and affection; held in deep and tender esteem; beloved, loved.
† to have dear, hold dear: to love [= Ger. lieb haben, Du. liefhebben].
The earlier sense was that of ‘esteemed, valued’ rather than ‘loved’ (= Ger. teuer, not lieb), but the passage of the one notion into the other is too gradual to admit of their separation.
| a 1000 Juliana 725 (Gr.) Fæder frofre gæst..and se deora sunu. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke vii. 2 Sumes hundred-mannes þeowa..se wæs him dyre. c 1205 Lay. 4377 Þe king haueð ane dohter þe him is swuðe dure [c 1275 þat he loueth swiþe]. a 1300 Cursor M. 3626 (Cott.) Mi leue sone..þou ert mi derest barn. Ibid. 20133 (Cott.) Saint iohn hir keped & had ful dere. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 590 Ther nas no man that Theseus hath so derre. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 931, I have a dowghttyr that ys me dere. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 291 His dere darlynges and well beloved frendes. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 174 He that wes his darrest sone in law. 1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 100/1 Dear to God, and famous to all Ages. 1650 W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 138 All those Thou hast made near and dear unto me. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xiii, Ellena, you have long witnessed how dear you are to me. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 225 He was a very dear friend of mine. |
b. Used in addressing a person, in affection or regard.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1569 Fader dere, bidde ic ðe, Ðat sum bliscing gif ðu me. c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 3375 Mi dere frende Gij. c 1340 Cursor M. 10483 (Trin.) Dere god here preyere myne. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxii. 470 ‘Dere syre’, sayd the duke Naymes, ‘ye sende vs for noughte.’ 1641 More's Edw. V, 12 My Lords, my deare kinsmen and allies. 1737 Pope Hor. Ep. i. vi. 3 Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flow'rs of speech. 1820 Shelley Œdipus i. 102 Why what's the matter, my dear fellow, now? 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 277 Do not all men, my dear sir, desire good? |
c. In the introductory address or subscription of a letter. Dear John, as n. (chiefly N. Amer.): see quot. 1945; also transf. and attrib.
Dear Father, Brother, Friend, Dear John, and the like, are still affectionate and intimate, and made more so by prefixing My; but Dear Sir (or Dear Mr. A.) has become since the 17th c. the ordinary polite form of addressing an equal.
| 1450 Q. Margt. in Four C. Eng. Lett. 7 Right dere and welbeloved. 1503–4 Q. Margt. (of Scotl.) to Hen. VII in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. I. 41 My most dere lorde and fader. 1516 ― to Hen. VIII, ibid. I. 129 Derest broder, As hartly as I can I recomend me onto you. a 1610 Meriel Littleton to Mrs. Barnaby, ibid. ii. III. 218 Deare Aunt, I ame as willinge [etc.]. 1623 Dk. Buckingham to Jas. I, ibid. III. 146 Dere Dad, Gossope, and Steward. 1628 Abp. Usher Let. to Sir R. Cotton in Lett. Emin. Lit. Men (Camden) 138 Deare Sir, I know not who should beginne first [etc.]. 1656 Jer. Taylor Let. in Evelyn's Mem. (1857) III. 72 Believe that I am, in great heartiness and dearness of affection, Dear Sir, your obliged and most affectionate friend and servant J. Taylor. 1665 Pepys to Lady Carteret 4 Sept., Dear Madam, Your Ladyship will not (I hope) imagine [etc.]. 1690 Harrison to Strype in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. IV. 209 Dear Sir, after some few days stay at Liverpool for a wind [etc.]. 1757 R. Symmer to A. Mitchell ibid. IV. 392 Dear Mitchell, I write a few lines [etc.]. 1865 G. M. Hopkins Let. 28 Aug. (1935) 1 Dear Bridges,—I left Manchester more than a month ago. 1908 D. H. Lawrence Let. 4 May (1962) I. 7 Dear Miss Jennings: With hot, boyish, impatience I looked for a letter from you. 1945 Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, N.Y.) 17 Aug. 17/2 ‘Dear John,’ the letter began. ‘I have found someone else whom I think the world of. I think the only way out is for us to get a divorce,’ it said. They usually began like that, those letters that told of infidelity on the part of the wives of servicemen... The men called them ‘Dear Johns’. 1947 Amer. Speech XXII. 187 It was a ‘Dear John’. Quite a lot of the fellows had already had their ‘Dear Johns’. 1957 W. Camp Prospects of Love xvi. 103 There was a note from Fenny on the kitchen table. For the moment he enjoyed the irony of thinking it might be what the Americans called a ‘dearjohn’. 1964 J. Philips Laughter Trap (1965) i. ii. 13 Peter..had gone to war..in love with a girl named Elizabeth Schofield... He had received a ‘Dear John’ letter from Elizabeth, telling him she was married. 1970 Post Office Subscriber Trunk Dialling: Dialling Instructions (London) 1 Dear Customer, In 1966 we changed your old 3 letter and 4 figure numbering to all figures. 1971 Guardian 7 Jan. 11/8 The going is getting distinctively gritty for Pan Am, so much so that 1,876 of its staff are now walking round with a new year ‘Dear John’ from..the airline's president. |
d. The adj. is often used absol. = ‘dear one’, especially in ‘dear’ or ‘my dear’ addressed to a person; also in the superlative degree, ‘dearest’, ‘my dearest’. Its use otherwise than in address, as in ‘his dear’, leads to its treatment as a n., for which see B.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 98 Hwo haueð ihurt te, mi deore? 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 241 Lere hit me, my deore. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. 286 O dainty Ducke: O Deere! 1611 ― Wint. T. i. ii. 88 Hermione (my dearest). Ibid. iv. iii. 15 Shall I go mourne for that (my deere)? a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 14 And, Deare, I die As often as from thee I goe. 1712 Tickell Spect. No. 410 ¶6, I therefore came abroad to meet my Dear, And lo, in happy Hour I find thee here. 1813 M. Edgeworth Patron. II. xxiii. 57 ‘Really, my dear’, answered she, ‘I can't say.’ 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley i. vii. 143 Do not exhaust yourself at once, dearest. 1879 M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xxxviii, ‘I am not in the clouds, dear; I am only anxious.’ |
e. dearest friend may have suggested dearest enemy or dearest foe; but see also dear a.2 2.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 123 Which art my neer'st and dearest Enemie. 1602 ― Ham. i. ii. 180 Would I had met my dearest foe in heauen Ere I had [etc.]. 1818 Shelley Rev. Islam xi. xv, O that I..could set my dearest enemy free From pain and fear! |
† 3. The attribute is sometimes transferred to the subject of the feeling: Affectionate, loving, fond.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 111 With no lesse Nobility of Loue, Then that which deerest Father beares his Sonne. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 179 Bountifull Fortune (Now my deere Lady). 1653 Walton Angler Ep. Ded., Sir Henry Wotton, a dear lover of this Art. |
II. Of things.
† 4. a. Of high estimation, of great worth or value; precious, valuable. Obs.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xiii, God word and god hlisa ælces monnes biþ betera & deorra þonne æniᵹ wela. c 893 ― Oros. v. ii. (Sw.) 216/5 Corrinthisce fatu..sint fæᵹran & dierran þonne æneᵹu oþru. c 1200 Ormin 6732 Rihht all swa summ hord off gold Mang menn iss horde deresst. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1792 Now is a dogge also dere þat in a dych lygges. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1683 Dubbed ouer with dyamondes, þat were dere holdyn. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvii, There may no rychesse be to dere for them. 1500–20 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 101 And crownit him with dyademe full deir. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 62 Your worth is very deere in my regard. c 1600 ― Sonn. xxx, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste. |
† b. Precious in import or significance; important. Obs.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. ii. 19 The Letter was not nice, but full of charge, Of deare import, and the neglecting it May do much danger. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 34 So dangerous and deare a trust. 1605 ― Lear iii. i. 19 Sir, I do know you, And dare..commend a deere thing to you. |
† c. In weakened sense of ‘precious’. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 539 You have erred many a dere daye..maynt jour. 15.. Tournam. Tottenham 10 It befel in Totenham on a dere day, Ther was mad a shurtyng be the hy-way. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. v. 70 O deare discretion, how his words are suted. |
5. a. The preceding passed gradually into a sense in which personal affection or attachment became the predominant notion as in 2 above: Precious in one's regard, of which one is fond, to which one is greatly attached.
| c 1175 Pater Noster 34 in Lamb. Hom. 57 Þis is þe furste bode here, þet we aȝen to habben deore. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3483 His word ȝu wurðe diȝere al-so lif, Diȝere or eiðer child or wif. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3703 Our haly faders statutes dere. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxv. 3 Right deare in the sight of y⊇ Lorde is the death of his sayntes. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 57 This Land of such deere soules, this deere-deere Land, Deere for her reputation through the world. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 179 Those that are dearest to a man are his own life and limbs. 1742 Fielding J. Andrews ii. iv, Bellarmine, in the dear coach and six, came to wait on her. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 209 Liberty, that dearest of names; and property, that best of charters. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 306 Those ties, once so close and dear, which had bound the Church of England to the House of Stuart. 1866 Princess Alice Mem. (1884) 158 How dear of you to have written to me on the 14th. 1891 Anti-Jacobin 17 Oct. 903/2 Clad in the black surtout dear to bourgeois taste. |
† b. Affectionate, fond, loving. Obs. or rare.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 14 Thou art not ignorant what deere good will I beare vnto the banish'd Valentine. c 1600 ― Sonn. cxxxi, For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. 1683 Pennsylv. Archives I. 70 With dear Love in ye lasting truth I salute thee. a 1866 Keble Lett. Spir. Counsel (1870) 35 My dear love to ― and ―. |
c. Often as an attribute of life, heart, heart's blood, etc., as things dear to one. to ride (etc.) for dear life: to ride for one's life, as a thing dear to one; to ride as though life were at stake. Cf. next.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. iv. 40 Or else this Blow should broach thy dearest Bloud. 1602 ― Ham. iii. ii. 68 Since my deere Soule was Mistris of my choyse. 1604 ― Oth. iii. iii. 261 Though that her Iesses were my deere heart-strings. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. ii. i. 413 My dear Peace of Mind is lost for ever. 1793 Burns ‘Scots wha hae’ v, We will drain our dearest veins But..they shall be free. 1887 Frith Autobiog. I. xxi. 279 Never so happy as when galloping for dear life after a pack of hounds. 1892 Boy's Own Paper Nov. 58/2 The men were working for ‘dear life’ to get her [the cutter] ready for sail. |
6. a. Of a high price, high-priced, absolutely or relatively; costly, expensive: the opposite of cheap.
| 1044 O.E. Chron., On ðisum ᵹere wæs swyðe mycel hunger ofer eall Englaland and corn swa dyre..swa þæt se sester hwætes eode to LX pen. 1154 Ibid. an. 1137 §3 Þa was corn dære. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. 3724 (W.) Than so bifell that corn was dere. 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 283 This is the derrest beiff that I Saw euir ȝeit; for sekirly It cost ane thousand pund and mar. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. iv. xix, Nothynge I wanted, were it chepe or dere. 1595 Shakes. John i. i. 153 Sell your face for fiue pence and 'tis deere. 1668 Rolle Abridgment 40 He swore, that the Wood was worth 40s. where it was dear of 13s. 4d. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) II. xxxviii. 109 Our manufactures..may be dear, though low-priced, if they are mean in their value. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 89 Pictures ought not to be too dear, that is to say, not as dear as they are. |
b. Said of prices, rates: = High. Now less usual.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2247 Fruit and spices of dere pris. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 128 He bought the said peper at derrar price. 1582–8 Hist. James VI (1804) 169 And pat the timber to the mercat to be sauld at the darrest price be the weyght. 1654 tr. Martini's Conq. China 37 Considering at how dear a rate he had bought the mastering of that City. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 46 ¶3 Privileges, which I have purchased at so dear a rate. 1891 Law Times XCI. 33/1 Economy is a good thing, but you may pay for it..at far too dear a price. |
c. Said of a time or place in which prices for provisions, etc. are high; dear year, a year of dearth; also of a dealer who charges high prices.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 278/25 A deore ȝer þare cam. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) v. 44 Therfore is there dere Tyme in that Contree. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxii. 19 To fede them in the deare tyme. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 52 The dearest Chandlers in Europe. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 216 The hard fare of the dear inn. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 501 It is the dearest town in England for fuel. 1765 Mrs. Harris in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 122, I have myself paid Mademoiselle Peignerelle..In my life I never saw so dear a woman. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. III. cxiv. 640 To..send it..by the cheapest routes to the dearest markets. |
d. fig. Costly in other than a pecuniary sense; difficult to procure; scarce.
| a 1330 Otuel 1680 Þo alle foure weren ifere, There nere none strokes dere. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) K vj b, Thou art so dere in vertues, and makeste vyces good chepe. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. iii. 1 The worde of y⊇ Lorde was deare at the same tyme. 1553 Kennedy Compend. Tract. in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 159 And therefore is deir of the rehersing, because it wes evir misknawin to the Kirk of God. 1576 Turberv. Venerie 248 The experience which hath bene dearer unto me particularly than it is meete to be published generally. |
e. Of money: that can be borrowed only at a high rate of interest.
| 1878 [see money n. 3 c]. 1930 Economist 1 Feb. 239/2 A year of dear money, when Bank rate averaged a full one per cent. above the level of 1928. |
† 7. Senses vaguely connected with the prec. Obs.
It is possible that a was influenced by dear a.2
a. ‘Heartfelt; hearty; hence earnest’ (Schmidt).
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 1 Now Madam summon vp your dearest spirits. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, v. v. 36 You Sonne John..Towards Yorke shall bend you, with your deerest speed. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. v. iii. 9 Consort with me in loud and deere petition: Pursue we him on knees. |
b. ? Rare, unusual, or ? loving, kind.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 28 This is deare [Qo. 1 meare] mercy, and thou seest it not. |
† 8. to think dear: to seem right or proper; to seem good. Const. with dative as in methinks.
| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 1133 Whan þis makelese man..Hadde..lettrus..Endited to dindimus as him dere þoute. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2391 To deme as þe dere thinke. a 1400–50 Alexander 1638 To do with Darius..how so me dere thinke. |
B. as n. = Dear one, darling.
This comes from A. 2 d, through intermediate uses like ‘I met my dear’, ‘he found his dear’, in which the adj., although capable of being compared (‘his dearest’), can also be treated as a n. with plural dears.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 9225 On suche couenaund to kepe, yf þat dere wold. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 281 Waloway! my lefe deres, there I stand in this sted. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 16 From that day forth Duessa was his deare. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 227 Golden Quoifes, and Stomachers For my Lads, to giue their deers. 1709 Prior Epil. to Phaedra, The Spouse alone, impatient for her Dear. 1782 Cowper Gilpin 19 You are she, my dearest dear, Therefore it shall be done. 1824 Byron Juan xv. lxxvi, Things Are somehow echoed to the pretty dears. 1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xi, Come on, there's a dear! 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am xlv, You are such a devoted old dear. |
C. Used interjectionally. Dear!, Oh dear!, Dear, dear!, Dear me!: exclamations expressing surprise, astonishment, anxiety, distress, regret, sympathy, or other emotion. dear bless, dear help, dear love, dear save us (you): ejaculations of astonishment, usually implying an appeal for higher help (obs. or dial.). dear knows! goodness knows, Heaven knows (I do not).
These uses with a verb suggest that dear represents or implies a fuller dear Lord! Thus dear knows! is exactly equivalent to the Lord or God knows!; cf. also the elliptical Save us! Help us! Keep us! and the like; but the historical evidence is not conclusive. (A derivation from It. dio, God, as conjectured by some, resting upon mod. Eng. pronunciation of dea(r, finds no support in the history of the word.)
| 1694 Congreve Double Dealer v. xxii, O dear, you make me blush. 1719 A. Ramsay Ep. J. Arbuckle 27 Then did ideas dance (dear safe us!) As they'd been daft. 1769 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 36 O dear! O dear! how melancholy has been to us this last week. Ibid., O dear! I shall die. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, Dear me! dear me! I'm sure there is nothing in my behavior to put me on a level with one of that stamp. 1805 E. Cavanagh Let. 4 Oct. in Londonderry & Hyde Russian Jrnls. of M. & C. Wilmot (1934) iii. 190, I never seen such a good Lady..nor so generous I've reason to say dear knows. c 1813 Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. ix. 65 ‘O, dear!’ says Mrs. Hicks, ‘do you think I am like your fine folks?’ 1818 ― Fairchild Fam. xii. (1829) 98 ‘Dear! how tiresome it must be to be so religious!’ 1838 Dickens O. Twist iv, Dear me!..he's very small. 1844 ― Mart. Chuz. xlv, Hers was not a flinty heart. Oh dear no! 1839 C. Sinclair Holiday House iii. 40 ‘Oh dear! oh dear! what shall I do?’ cried Harry. 1849 Lytton Caxtons 17 ‘Dear, dear’, cried my mother..‘my poor flower pot that I prized so much.’ 1876 White Cross xxxvii. 236 ‘Dear knows’, said Catharine, ‘when we shall see them back.’ 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss., Dear bless you!.. Dear help you!.. Dear knows, a common rejoinder, meaning ‘who knows’ or ‘nobody knows’, probably meant originally, ‘God only knows’. Dear love you! God love you, an exclamation. 1914–15 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1916) v. 203 The dear knows you might try to be in time for your lectures. 1969 Outlook Mar. 226 The curate waded out into the sea of dear knows what but mostly rubbish. |
▪ III. † dear, dere, a.2 poetic. Obs. or arch.
Forms: l dior, déor, 3–5 dere, 6–7 deere, deare, 7– dear.
[OE. déor; not known in the cognate langs., and of uncertain etymology.
By some held to be intimately related to OE. déor animal (see deer). By others thought to contain the same radical form as dear a.1, and to differ only in the stem-suffix (*deur-o-). In OE., from the levelling of o- stems and jo- stems, déor was formally distinguishable from déore only in the nom. sing. (of all genders), the acc. sing. neuter, and nom. acc. pl. neuter, which had déor, as against déore, déoru (-o). Hence, when the final -e was lost or mute in ME., the two words became entirely identical in form. But in OE., their senses appear to have been quite distinct; and, in later times, the sense of dere, dear, from déor was highly incongruous with those developed from déore (though intermediate or connecting links of meaning also arose). This difference of sense is a serious objection to the view that the two words are merely different formations from the same base, as in the pairs strong strenge, weorð wierðe, etc., where the two forms agree in sense. The ultimate etymology has been discussed by Karsten, Mod. Lang. Notes, 1892, 345.
Common in OE. poetry, but found in no prose writing. In ME. poetry, not known in southern writers, but in the East-Midland Genesis & Exodus, the West Midland Allit. Poems, Gawain & Green Knight, Piers Plowman, and the metrical Destruction of Troy (all these except the first being alliterative); it then appears in Spenser (by whom it was perhaps revived), occurs frequently in Shakespeare, in 17th c. poets, and archaically in Shelley. By these later writers it was probably conceived of only as a peculiar poetical sense of dear a.1, and there are uses in Shakespeare evidently associated with both sense-groups.]
† 1. Brave, bold, strenuous, hardy. Obs.
| a 1000 Andreas 1310 (Gr.) Se halᵹa wæs to hofe læded, deor and domᵹeorn. ― Cædmon's Satan 543 Ðæt wæs se deora, Didimus wæs haten. ― Sal. & Sat. 387 For hwam nele mon..ᵹeorne ᵹewyrcan deores dryhtscipes. ― Seaman's Lament 41 Nis mon in his dædum to ðæs deor. Ibid. 76 Deorum dædum. [c 1450 Golagros & Gaw. I. 9 Dukis and digne lordis, douchty and deir.] |
2. Hard, severe, heavy, grievous; fell, dire. arch.
| Beowulf (Th.) 4186 Dior dædfruma. a 1000 Cædmon's Daniel (Gr.) 372 Deor scur. a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 122 Swenga ne wyrnaþ deorra dynta. Ibid. 361 Ne mæᵹ man foryldan þone deoran siþ. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3742 He ben smiten in sorwes dere. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 214 Dryȝtyn with his dere dom hym drof to þe abyme. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 564 Of destines derf & dere, What may mon do bot fonde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 171 May no derth ben hem [riche men] dere, drouth, ne wete. c 1400 Destr. Troy 920 With-droghe the deire of his dere attur. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. v. 38 On him that did Pyrochles deare dismay. Ibid. ii. xi. 34 To seize upon his foe..Which now him turnd to disadvantage deare. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 151 The datelesse limit of thy deere exile. c 1600 ― Sonn. xxxvii, I, made lame by Fortunes dearest spight. 1607 ― Timon v. i. 231 What other meanes is left vnto vs In our deere perill. 1607 Deloney Strange Hist. (1841) 14 But this their meriment did turne to deare annoy. a 1626 Middleton Mayor of Q. iv. ii, Here's no dear villainy. 1637 Milton Lycidas 6 Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iv. 32 Now I forget them at my dearest need. |
† 3. Hard, difficult. Obs.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 948 For nis him no derure for to adweschen feole þen fewe. c 1230 Hali Meid. 21 Eauer se deore þing se is derure to bewitene. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1469 Now eese us a thyng, now fele we it dere. |
▪ IV. dear, adv.
(dɪə(r))
For forms see dear a.1
[OE. d{iacu}ore, déore = OHG. tiuro, MHG. tiure, tiuwer, G. teuer: in OE., through the reduction of the termination to e, not distinct in form from dear a.1 in Anglian.]
1. At a high price; at great cost; usually with such verbs as buy, cost, pay, sell, etc. (See also aby v., buy v. 3, cost v. 2 b, etc.)
| a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxvi. 37 Diore ᵹecepte drihten Creca Troia burh. c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 130 Care uendidit, deore he hit bohte vel sealde. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 213 Þe sullere loueð his þing dere and seið þat it is wel wurð oðer betere. a 1225 Ancr. R. 392 Ure luue..þet kostnede him so deorre. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 2155 Ellas youre love I bie it all to dere. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 29 It es salde wonder dere. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1479 Be god, he seyde, that boght me dere. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 82 b, To have solde the tenementes more deerer to some other. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 127 Each pretious..thing, though it costeth deere, yet if it be beautifull it..be good cheape. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 7 The people there [Holland] pay great Taxes, and eat dear. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 350 Horses..are sold extremely dear. 1822 Scott Pirate xix, That knowledge, which was to cost us both so dear. 1833 H. Martineau Cinnamon & P. vii. 124 It must do without some articles..or pay dear for them. |
2. = dearly adv. 2. (In quots. 1601, 1606, perh. associated with dear a.2)
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 152 Þerl him loued swiþe dere, Ouer al oþer þat þer were. a 1400 Destr. Troy 583 If destyny me demys, hi is dere welcum. a 1400–50 Alexander 5143 All was done as scho demed & he hire dere thankis. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 30 He was byloued & dere reputed of euery body. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer 127 Through thy most dere beloued sonne. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iii. 66 Is Rosaline that thou didst loue so deare So soone forsaken? 1601 ― Jul. C. iii. i. 196 Shall it not greeue thee deerer then thy death. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. 248 Let that All-Powerfull dear-drad Prince descend. 1807 Byron Ho. Idleness, To E. N. Long 99 The dear-loved peaceful seat. |
▪ V. dear, v.
(dɪə(r))
[f. dear a.1]
1. trans. To make dear or expensive; to raise the price of. Sc. Obs. rare.
| 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) 7 (Jam.) That na vittalis..be deryt apon our lorde the kyngis men in ony place. 14.. Chalmerlan Ayr in Sc. Stat. I. 700/2 Þai deir þe kingis mercate and þe cuntre of eggis bying. 1462 Edinb. Rec. (1870) 7 Oct. (Jam. Supp.), That na neichtbour tak in hand to by the saidis victualis or tymmer to regrait and deir agane upoun the nychtbouris. |
† 2. To endear. Obs. rare.
| 1603 J. Davies Microcosmos Wks. (1876) 64 (D.) He is his Sire, in nature dear'd. |
3. To address (a person) as ‘dear’; so to dear sir, dear cousin. nonce-use.
| 1816 Scott Antiq. v, I have no leisure to be Dear Sirring myself. Ibid. xli, He dears me too, you see. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xxiv, Don't dear me, Sir Hurricane, I am not one of your dears. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. iv, Their two graces Do so dear-cousin and royal-cousin him. |
▪ VI. dear
obs. form of deer, dere.