▪ I. † vare1 Obs.
Also 7 varre.
[ad. Sp. vara vara.]
1. = vara.
| 1545 Rates of Customs d iiij b, The Vares of Spayne:..ix. Vares makithe .viii. yardes Englysshe. 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 175 Certain peeces of blacke silke of twelue vares long a peece. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 273 The other measure is called a vare,..which measure is of 5 palmes or spans, and is one code and two third parts. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xi. 240 It extendes above foure score Varres or yardes in length. |
2. A rod, staff, or wand, esp. as a symbol of judicial office or authority.
| 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 357 He tooke the Vares of Justice from the Judges and Sargeants, and incontinent restored them againe. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. iii. xxxii, If an Alguazil..show him his Vare, that is a little white staffe he carryeth as badge of his office. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 48 Imposing my hand upon a Crosse held out to me upon the end of a Vare, or wand. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 595 His Hand a Vare of Justice did uphold. |
▪ II. † vare2
Variant of fare n.3 Obs.
| 1653 H. Appleton Fight Legorn-Road 2 At Naples I made Provision for my Squadron,..passing thence through the Vare [= Strait] of Messina. |
▪ III. vare
dial. var. fare n.2; southern ME. var. fare v.; var. vair n.1; obs. Sc. f. ware n.