▪ I. mere, n.1
(mɪə(r))
Forms: 1 meri, 2–3 mære, 4 marre, 5 mer, 5–7 meere, 6–8 meare, 7 mayre, 7–9 meer, 9 dial. mare, mar, marr, 1– mere.
[OE. męre str. masc., corresp. to OS. meri fem., sea (MDu., MLG. mere fem., neut., Du. meer neut., sea, pool), OHG. meri, marī (MHG., mod.G. meer) neut., sea, ON. mar-r masc., sea (MSw. mär, MDa. mær are from MLG.), Goth. mari- (nom. *mar) in mari-saiws sea (also the derivative marei:—OTeut. type *marîn- wk. fem.):—OTeut. *mari-:— WAryan *mori- or *məri-, represented in OSl. and Russ. more, OIrish muir, Welsh mor, L. mare neut. (It. mare, Pr., Sp., Pg. mar, F. mer fem.).
The word is often referred to the Indogermanic root *mer- (: mor-, mr-) to die, and supposed to have originally designated the sea as ‘lifeless’ in contrast with the land as abounding in vegetable life; but this is very doubtful; Brugmann suggests that the r may belong to the suffix.
The form mar(r (14th c. marre), occurring in senses 2 and 4, is abnormal. Cf. ON. marr (which, however, is known only in the sense ‘sea’), and F. mare pond (from 12th c.).]
† 1. The sea. Obs.
Mere Mediterane in quot. c 1425 is prob. from French.
| a 1000 Andreas 283, & þu wilnast nu ofer widne mere? c 1205 Lay. 21773 Þer walleð of þan mæren a moniare siden. [c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xii. 1332 The Lord wes of the Oryent, Of all Jude, and to Jordane And swa to the Mere Mediterane.] 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 74 O lord..Wych..pharoo..drynklyddyst in the salt mere. |
2. A sheet of standing water; a lake, pond. Now chiefly poet. and dial.
Freq. used of Grendel's abode in the Old English poem Beowulf.
| Beowulf 1362 Nis þæt feor heonon milᵹemearces, þæt se mere standeð. a 700 Epinal Gloss. 962 Stagnum, staeg vel meri. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John ix. 7 Ga & þweah þe on syloes mere. c 1205 Lay. 21739 Þat is a seolcuð mere iset a middelærde mid fenne & mid ræode. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 158, I seȝ by-ȝonde þat myry mere, A crystal clyffe ful relusaunt. a 1400–50 Alexander 4093 Sone was he dreuyn with his dukis in-to a dryi meere. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xvi. 85 b, He came vnto a meere which is called the sea of Galile. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxiii. (1887) 95 Swimming in lakes and standing meres. 1651–7 T. Barker Art of Angling (1820) 23 Either in mayre, or pond. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 40 The meres of Shropshire and Cheshire. 1823 Scott Peveril i, As a tempest influences the sluggish waters of the deadest meer. 1842 Tennyson Sir Galahad iv, Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres I find a magic bark. 1849 A. D. Wackerbarth tr. Beowulf 53 It is not far,—a Mile from here, Where stands the Monster's sluggish Meer. 1855 B. Thorpe tr. Beowulf 107/2 Departed home thence the gold-friend of men,..and on the mere they gaz'd. 1888 A. S. Swan Doris Cheyne iii. 53 She loved to..watch the lovely shadows in the silent depths of the placid mere. 1896 T. Blashill Sutton-in-Holderness 4 Dotted over with sedgy marrs, of which Hornsea Marr, a veritable lake, is practically the last survivor. 1898 G. Saintsbury Short Hist. Eng. Lit. i. i. 5 Beowulf..soon hears from the King that his adventure is not done, and determines to finish it in the mere itself. 1912 PMLA XXVII. 208 (title) The haunted mere in Beowulf. 1951 Speculum XXVI. 33 Grendel's mere has other attributes... The hart pursued by hounds chooses rather to give up its life than to hide its head in the grove surrounding the pool. 1957 Rev. Eng. Stud. VIII. 6 All this radiance is eclipsed when under cover of darkness Grendel's mother carries off æschere to her retreat below the mere. |
† 3. An arm of the sea. Obs.
| 1573–80 Baret Alv. M 271 A Mere, or water whereunto an arme of the sea floweth. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1824) 70, I take it that a Bay and a Creek be all one, and that a Mere and a Fleet be also of that nature. a 1676 Hale De Jure Maris i. v. in Hargrave's Tracts (1787) I. 21 The abbot..had..the fishing, yea and the soil of an arm or creek of the sea called a meere or fleete. |
4. A marsh, a fen. Now dial.
| 13.. Childh. Jesus 598 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXIV. 335, I salle the gyffe bothe..Marre and mosse, bothe feldes and fene. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxii. viii. 201 The seventh [mouth of the Danube] is a mightie great one, and in manner of a meere, blacke. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 360 Being come to a mighty great Meare or Marish, whither the Germanes had fled. 1670 Evelyn Diary 22 July, We rod out to see the greate meere or levell of recover'd fen lande. 1706 Phillips, Meer or Mear,..a low marshy Ground. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Mere, heard, at times, applied to ground permanently under water. |
5. attrib., as † mere-rush.
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. v. 72 They feede them [children] with the rootes of mererusshes. |
▪ II. mere, mear, n.2 arch. and dial.
(mɪə(r))
Forms: 1 ᵹemǽre, mǽre, 2 mære, 3 mær, mare, 3–4 mer, 4–9 meer(e, 5 merre, 5–6 meyre, 6–9 meare, 3– mere, 5– mear.
[OE. ᵹemǽre, mǽre str. neut. = MDu. (Flemish) mere, meer, ON. (landa)-mǽri (Sw. landamäre):—OTeut. *(ga)-mairjo{supm}, cogn. w. L. mūrus (:—*moiros) wall.]
1. a. A boundary; also, an object indicating a boundary, a landmark.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter ii. 8, & mæhte ðine ᵹemæru eorðan [et possessionem tuam terminos terrae]. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark vi. 56 In londum uel in mærum [c 975 ᵹimæru, Vulg. in uicos uel in uillas]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark v. 17 Hi bædon þæt he of hyra ᵹemærum [c 1160 Hatton of hire mæren] fore. c 1205 Lay. 2133 Locrines mær [c 1275 mer] eode suð & east forð. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 137 Þilke men destingeþ nouȝt noþer to sette her feeldes by boundes, noþer by meres. a 1400–50 Alexander 211 With-in þe merris of Messedoyn þar na man him knewe. 1488 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 493 They ridde over a meare westward till thei came to Our Lady well, and so straight over the said mer. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. i. xv. 28 The meeres and butrelles with whiche they desseuered theyr porcions of lande. 1600 Holland Livy 1403 The god of Meeres and Bounds Terminus. 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 310 Planting 3 millions of timber-trees upon the bounds and mears of every denomination of land. 1787 in N. W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Where a person knows his own land by meres or boundaries. 1849 James Woodman xviii, Such things as have been done this night shall not happen within our meres and go unpunished. |
| fig. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 46 So huge a mind could not in lesser rest, Ne in small meares containe his glory great. |
b. spec. A green ‘balk’, or a road, serving as a boundary.
| 1607 Markham Caval. iv. (1617) 13 Either some faire Hie-way, or else some plaine green Meare. 1893 J. T. Fowler Let. to Editor, To road dividing Winterton and Winteringham is commonly called ‘The Mere’ or ‘Winteringham Mere’. 1956 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay xxv. 227 Robert Savage recently used it [sc. the word mere] to indicate the division between the yards on the Common. ‘They called them meres: they were usually made wide enough so that each man could have a load o' muck taken to his yard.’ 1972 Parl. Debates Commons: Rep. Standing Comm. D: Local Govt. Bill, 18th Sitting 27 Jan. 1043 A ‘mere’ is, in fact, a boundary. |
2. Derbysh. Lead-mining. A measure of land containing lead ore.
| 1653 E. Manlove Lead Mines 123 Such as orders, to observe refuse; Or work their meers beyond their length and Stake. 1670 Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 92 If any Miners..find any new Rake or Vein, the first Finder shall have two Meers. 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby i. 67 Marking out in a pipe, or rake⁓work, two meeres of ground, each containing twenty-nine yards. 1851 Act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 94 Sched. i. §18 Every Meer of Ground shall contain Thirty-two Yards in Length. |
3. attrib., as in mere-balk, † mere-bound, mere-furrow, † mere-mark, † mere-staff, mere-stake, † mere-thorn, mere-tree. Cf. meresman, merestone.
| 1630 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Of Richard Welborne for plowing vp the kings *meere balk. 1667 Providence (R. I.) Rec. (1892) I. 37 Bounded with a Meere bauke betweene the land of Henry Browne & his running to Mosshossick river. 1840 Spurdens Suppl. Forby's Voc. E. Anglia, Mear-balk, Meare-balk, a ridge left unploughed in a field, as a division of lands. |
| 1600 J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 22 North Clanneboy is devided into two partes; the ryver of Kellis being the *meare bounde. |
| 1896 T. Blashill Sutton-in-Holderness 17 These strips were called at a later time ‘*mere-furrows’, or ‘balks’. |
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. ii. §32 Some ruines of which *Meere-marke are yet appearing. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 866 The meere⁓markes, limits, or bondaries. |
| 1552 Huloet, Bowne, buttell, or *merestafe, or stone. |
| 1629 Brasenose Coll. Muniments 27. 104 Removed the *meere-stakes and boundaries. |
| a 1000 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 168 Of ðæm pytte on ðone dic, ðæt on *mærðorne. 1241 in Newminster Cartul. (1878) 202 Usque ad Merethorne. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator 139 A *meere tree: a tree which is for some bound or limit of land. |
▪ III. † mere, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
[Shortened from mereman merman.]
A merman or mermaid.
| c 1220 Bestiary 584 He hauen herd told of ðis mere..half man and half fis. |
▪ IV. † mere, n.4 Obs.
[a. OF. mere:—L. mātrem mother.]
A mother.
| a 1250 Five Joys Virg. in Rel. Ant. I. 48 Seinte Marie, maydan ant mere. ? c 1400 Minot's Poems (1897) App. ii. 104/80 Þan sal þe land duel in were, Als a stepchild withouten þe mere. c 1460–70 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 232/763 To-fore þi fadir, [&] mere maree, Þou schewist þi woundis rent on roode. |
▪ V. † mere, n.5 Obs.
[subst. use of mere a.2]
(See quot. 1607.)
| 1544 tr. Nat. Brevium 2 Ioynynge the myses vpon the mere. [Cf. mere a.2 3, quot. 1628.] 1607 J. Cowell Interpr., Meere, though an adiectiue, yet is vsed for a substantive, signifiing meere right, Owld nat. br. fol. 2. |
▪ VI. mere, n.6
(ˈmɛrɪ)
Also marree, meri.
[Maori.]
A Maori war-club, from 12 to 18 inches long, made of hard wood, whalebone, or greenstone. Also, a miniature greenstone version.
| 1829 J. F. Atkins in R. McNab Hist. Rec. N.Z. (1908) I. 692 The chief..shot him through the head, and with his maree (a short stone club, with a sharp edge) he split his skull. 1830 J. D. Lang Poems (1873) 116 Beneath his shaggy flaxen mat The dreadful marree hangs concealed. 1833 in R. McNab Old Whaling Days (1913) 48 An instrument made of a beautiful blue or green marble stone, which they call a Mary. 1851 Mrs. Wilson New Zealand, etc. 48 The old man has broken my head with his meri. 1859 [see greenstone 2 attrib.]. 1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xviii. 258 The Maories used them [sc. stone implements] to kill the Moriories rather than..degrade their own meres. 1883 Renwick Betrayed 36 Full half-revealed a greenstone mere swung Upon his hip. 1905 W. B. Where White Man Treads 134 He yearned to take the taiha and mere from his hand, and substitute the axe and spade. 1921 Outward Bound June 46/2 The valuable greenstone from which the Maoris fashion all their meres, their tikis, canoe-chisels, brooches and other articles. 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 10 In the clear space by the flagpole old Tamarua is delivering a speech of welcome, mere in hand. 1942 N. Marsh Death & Dancing Footman ix. 158 It hung on the wall there... It came from New Zealand... It's called a mere. 1956 M. Duggan Immanuel's Land 15 The chipped greenstone mere. 1957 N.Z. Listener 22 Nov. 4/2 We know what a ‘mere’..or a ‘hangi’ is, but they remain essentially Maori in idea. 1975 D. Bagley Snow Tiger iv. 53 The greenstone mere—the Maori war axe. |
▪ VII. † mere, a.1 Obs.
Also 1 mǽre, mére, 2–3 mære, 2–4 mere, 3 (Lay.) mare, meare.
[OE. mǽre = OS. mâri, OHG. mâri, mâre (MHG. mære), ON. mǽrr (:—older mâri-r, in Runic inscriptions), Goth. -mêrs (in wailamêrs εὔϕηµος):—OTeut. *mæ̂rjo-.]
Renowned, famous, illustrious; beautiful, noble. (Said of persons and things.)
| Beowulf 103 Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten, mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold. a 700 Epinal Gloss. 737 Percrebuit, mere uueard. c 1000 ælfric Saints Lives II. 334 Crist ᵹeswutelaþ mannum þurh his mæran halᵹan þæt he is ælmihtiᵹ god. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 221 Forði ðe god hi ȝeworhte to meren anglen. c 1200 Ormin 806 Þatt child..Shall ben biforenn Drihhtin Godd Full mahhtiȝ mann & mære. c 1205 Lay. 27877 He..lette makien beren riche and swiðe maren [c 1275 meare]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls 7045) Constant was eldest & mere. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 878 Þenne a mere mantyle was on þat mon cast. |
▪ VIII. mere, a.2 and adv.
(mɪə(r))
Forms: 6 meare, mer, Sc. meir, 6–8 meer(e, (7 mear, myere).
[ad. L. merus undiluted, unmixed, pure. Cf. OF. mer, mier (AF. meer, which is the source of the Eng. word in legal uses), It., Sp., Pg. mero.
In the OE. mǽre peneᵹas (see B.-T.), app. = med.L. meri denarii (see Du Cange, the adj. may be viewed as an adaptation of L. merus, or better as a use of mere a.1 suggested by the similarity in sound to the Latin word.]
A. adj.
† 1. a. Of wine: Not mixed with water. Obs.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 133 Let not the nourse vse any watered wyne, or myxed but mere and in his owne kynde. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 275 Three cyaths of meere wine ful of the grape. 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. i. 35 Our wine is here mingled with water and with myrrhe, there it is mere and unmixt. |
† b. Of a people or their language: Pure, unmixed. Chiefly in mere Irish (see Irish n. 1 a), now often misunderstood as a term of disparagement, the adj. being apprehended as in sense 5.
| 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. (1577) E vj, Though it were not the meere ancient Tuscane tong, yet should it be the Italian tongue. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 286. I will repeople the towne againe wyth mere Englishe men. 1577–87 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. viii. 44/2 in Holinshed, The disposition and maners of the meere Irish, commonlie called the wild Irish. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. (1628) Pref. Ep. [They] doe rather seeme to vnderstand them for a kind of forraine people, then as their owne true and meere Ancestors. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. To Rdr. 17 The meere Saxon monuments of..Sir H. Spelman. 1648 Gage West Ind. 55 There may not be above two thousand Inhabitants of meer Indians. 1711 J. Greenwood Eng. Gram. 10 Cardinal Wolsey, in his Embassy into France, commanded all his servants to use no French, but meer English. 1732–33 Wogan in Swift's Wks. (1824) XVII. 456 Scarce any people are taken for mere Irish, either in England, or on the continent, but the vulgar of the country, and the few unfortunate exiles. 1836 H. G. Ward Sp. Ho. Comm. 28 Mar., No man who is ‘a mere Irishman’ can exist without feeling deep gratitude to the Honourable and Learned Member for Dublin. |
† c. Of other things material and immaterial: Pure, unmixed. Obs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 116 Bringand cowpez of gold full of meere mylk. 1535 Hen. VIII in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. liv. 140 The true, mere, and sincere word of God. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 84 Earthly happinesse..is neuer meere and vnmixed, but hath some sowre sauce to rellish it. 1665 Needham Med. Medicinæ 388 The vitious humor..not sincere or mere [at non sincerum], but mingled with the..profitable humor. 1703 Art & Myst. Vintners 43 Take about 8 or 10 ounces of mere Chalk. |
† d. quasi-adv. in comb. mere-pure adj. Obs.
| 1650 W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 17 Mere-pure-papists holding and doing all things in opposition to us. Ibid. 207 A meer-pure-sin, without motive. |
2. Done, performed, or exercised by a person or persons specified without the help of any one else; sole. Chiefly Law, in phrases mere motion, etc.
| 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 87/1 Of his especial grace, mere motion, and singuler devotion. 1449 Ibid. 161/1 This devout Collage is of his mere foundation. 1527 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 342 But leue theym to the mer disposicion of the said parson & parisheners. 1558 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 388 Of our own meare gifte and volantary willis. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 55 His nature being the meer work of God had no defaults. a 1718 Penn Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 681 It is said to be out of his meer and free Will, as if it were his meer Favour. 1881 Jowett Thucyd. I. 211 We were wrong if of our mere motion we..fought with you, and ravaged your land. |
3. Law. mere right [AF. meer dreit, law-Latin jus merum]: right as distinguished from possession.
| [1292 Britton iv. v. §4 Qe cesti pleintif, qi est dreit heir celi qi drein presenta, ad meer dreit par le title de successioun.] 1559–60 Act 2 Eliz. in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 284 That your Majestie..is, and in verie deed, and of most meere right ought to bee..our most rightful..soveraigne. 1628 Coke On Litt. iii. viii. 279 If..hee ioyne the mise vpon the meere right. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 197 This is frequently spoken of in our books under the name of the mere right, jus merum; and the estate of the owner is in such cases said to be totally devested, and put to a right. |
† 4. That is what it is in the full sense of the term; nothing short of (what is expressed by the n.); absolute, entire, sheer, perfect, downright. Obs.
Collocations such as ‘mere lying’, ‘mere folly’, are still possible, but the adj. no longer means ‘nothing less than’, but ‘nothing more than’ (sense 5).
| 1536 Hen. VIII in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 86 We..wyll se yf..he wyll of hys awne mynde confesse the mere trawthe. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 244 Whyche thynge they doo of meere pytye and compassion. 1577 F. de L'isle's Legendarie B viij, A kinde of importunatenes not farre different from meere violence. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. §2 Our God is One, or rather very Oneness, and meer Unity. 1600 Holland Livy xxii. xliii. 459 Complaining first of the dearth of victuals, and in the end, of meere hunger and famine. 1600 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 458 Thobstinacie, willfull disobedience, myere lienge and disceite of the countrie gentlemen. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. ii. 3. 1607 Heywood Wom. Killed w. Kindn. Wks. 1874 II. 115 Pride is grown to vs A meere meere stranger. 1625 Bacon Ess., Friendship (Arb.) 165 That it is a meere, and miserable Solitude, to want true Friends. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 214 [The rivulet] discends so violently, that it makes meere Cattaracts by its motion. 1668 M. Casaubon Credulity (1670) 31 The Greek Grammarians..(meer strangers to the Hebrew). 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 306 It blows a mere Storm. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. 146, I..became, in a little time, a mere pastry-cook, into the bargain. 1746 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) I. cviii. 295 You are a mere Oedipus, and I do not believe a Sphynx could puzzle you. 1749 Smollett Gil Blas (1797) III. 45 He was..fair as Love himself, a mere pattern in shape. 1775 Wesley Wks. (1872) IV. 50 He seems to think himself a mere Phenix. |
5. a. Having no greater extent, range, value, power, or importance than the designation implies; that is barely or only what it is said to be.
| 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 49 b, If I speake rather lyke a meere Citizen, than a Philosopher. 1586 Hooker Disc. Justif. §32 (1612) 54 Nestorius..held, that the Virgin..did not bring forth the sonne of God, but a sole and a mere man. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 345 The throate..being onely a meere way and place of passage, through which meates and drinkes passe to and fro. 1610 A. Cooke Pope Joan 104 A meere layman. 1650 Baxter Saints' R. ii. vii. §7 To the meer English Reader I commend especially these [books]. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 535 To the utmost of meer man both wise and good, Not more. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. i. 9 This military Function became a meer Title of Honour. 1750 Gray Long Story 137 Decorum's turn'd to mere civility. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. p. xiv, Our public performances are..looked upon as a meer form. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 3 Even when a mere child I began my travels. 1827 Hare Guesses (1859) 339 Mere art perverts taste; just as mere theology depraves religion. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 532 Those who had pecuniary transactions with him soon found him to be a mere swindler. 1874 Green Short Hist. vi. §4. 300 Immersed as Archbishop Warham was in the business of the State, he was no mere politician. 1892 Law Rep., Weekly Notes 188 1 The defendant had been maliciously making noises for the mere purpose of..annoying the plaintiffs. |
b. Used in the superlative and comparative.
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 305, I rather deeme it the meerest, the falsest, the most unfortunate guift of fortune. 1841 Miss Sedgwick Lett. Abr. I. 269*, I have never seen people that seemed merer animals. 1868 Farrar Seekers ii. i. (1875) 201, I shall live despised and the merest nobody. |
c. Esp. in pred. use: insignificant, ordinary; foolish, inept.
| 1732 Swift Let. 19 Feb. in Corr. (1965) IV. 4, I..am as meer a Monk as any in Spain. 1893 Beerbohm Lett. to R. Turner (1964) 64 She is still very mere but not quite so mere—in the strict sense of the word—as she was four weeks ago. 1919 D. Ashford Young Visiters v. 46 Peaple who have got something funny in their family and who want to be less mere if you can comprehend. 1942 M. Dickens One Pair of Feet ix. 191 Sissons, who didn't count, because she was the Junior and mere. 1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences viii. 182 In such situations American and Dominion soldiers have always felt less ‘mere’ than the English. |
† B. adv. = merely adv.2 Obs.
| 1534 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 126 Lawes..repugnante and meere contrarie to ye Kings statuts. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 259 All such crimes as Athanasius was charged with, were meere false. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 58 Dia... Thinke you it is so? Hel. I surely meere the truth. 1618 Wither Motto, Nec Curo, I hate to have a thought o're-serious spent In things meere triviall, or indifferent. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. i. ii. (1636) 51 Authority over the Clergie and matters meere ecclesiasticall. |
▪ IX. † mere, v.1 Obs.
[OE. merian; cf. the more frequent á-merian, of the same meaning.]
trans. To purify. Hence † mered ppl. a.
| a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 55 (Gr.) To begonganne ðam ðe his gast wile meltan wið morðre, merᵹan [MS. B. merian] of sorᵹe. a 1272 Luue Ron 115 in O. E. Misc. 96 Hwat spekestu of eny bolde þat wrouht þe wise salomon Of iaspe, of saphir, of merede golde. 1340 Ayenb. 94 Huanne he [God] nhesseþ þe herte and makeþ zuete and tretable ase wex ymered. |
▪ X. mere, mear, v.2
(mɪə(r))
Also 6 mere, meyre, 6–7 meare, 6–9 meer.
[f. mere, mear n.2 (ONorthumbrian had ᵹimǽra).]
1. trans. To mark out (land) by means of ‘meres’ or boundaries. Also, to record the position of (a boundary) by specifying its relation to a visible feature on the ground.
| a 950 Rituale Eccles. Dunelm. (Surtees) 164 Diterminans [glossed] ᵹimaerende. 1507 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 190 A certeyn parcell of Grounde..meryd and staked by the maisters of both the said Collegges. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 22/1 The paroch was meared from the Crane castell, to the fish shambles. 1598 Manchester Crt. Leet Rec. (1885) II. 136 Wee..haue sett downe certen stakes w{supc}{suph} meyre out ye saide landes. 1621 Earl of Cork in Lismore Papers (1888) Ser. ii. III. 18 This purchase will..meare and bounde his owne [property]. 1725 in S. O. Addy Hall of Waltheof (1893) 155 A place there comonly called Campo Lane being the overend of the said croft, as the same is now meared and staked out. 1863 in Curwen Kirbie-Kendall (1900) 84 The Scotch Burial Ground..never had any trustees for itself alone, being only meered or walled off and excluded from the title made in 1804. 1925 A. S. Green Hist. Irish State to 1014 xiii. 241 On all sides fertile soil was reclaimed for tillage, partitioned, mered, and fenced. 1932 Instructions to Field Revisers (Ordnance Survey) App. A. 47 Revision of Boundaries... It often happens that detail is placed on the actual boundary and the original fence entirely obliterated. Before mereing the new detail it is usual to consult the owner or tenant, and not mere on the supposed custom of the district. Ibid. 48 Fences to woods..are, as a rule, maintained by the owner or occupier of the wood,..and are, therefore, mered accordingly on Ordnance maps. 1971 House of Commons Bill 1971–2, No. 2: Local Govt. Sched. i. iii. 192 The boundaries of the new local government areas shall be mered by Ordnance Survey. Ibid. 193 Any such boundary defined on the map annexed to any order under..the Local Government Act 1958 by reference to proposed works shall..be mered as if the boundary had not been so defined. 1975 J. B. Harley O.S. Maps i. 12 The surveyor who completes the map detail also..perambulates and meres administrative boundaries. Ibid. iii. 39 Because boundaries are invisible..their precise location in relation to visible ground features is recorded by perambulating the boundary line and ‘mereing’ it to those features. |
† 2. intr. To abut upon; to be bounded by. Obs.
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 2 Ireland is divided into foure regions..and into a fift plot, defalked from everie fourth part, and yet mearing on each part. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. ii. 99 The County of Gallway meereth South upon Clare—West upon the Ocean. 1713 Conn. Col Rec. (1870) V. 396 From the said ford of Cowissick River meering with the said Cowissick River, to a great oak tree markt,..and thence meering on the east or easterly by and with the said Quinebaug River. |
▪ XI. mere
see mar, mare, mayor, merry, myrrh.