▪ I. mare1
(mɛə(r))
Forms: 1 myre, mire, 1, 3–6 mere, 4 mure, maare, 4–5 mer, meer(e, 6 Sc. meir, meyr, 6–7 meare, 7 Sc. meire, 8 mear, 2– mare.
[OE. m{ehookmacbreve}re (WS. mī̆ere, m{ymacbreve}re) wk. fem. = OFris., MLG., MDu. mer(r)ie (mod.Du. merrie), OHG. meriha (MHG. meriche, merhe, mod.G. with altered sense mähre jade), ON. merr str. fem. (Sw. märr, Da. mær):—OTeut. *marhjô(n)-, f. *marho-z horse (OE. mearh, OHG. marah, MHG. marc, ON. marr):—pre-Teut. *marko-s (= Gaulish µάρκαν acc. sing., Pausanias x. xix; Irish, Gael. marc, Welsh march).]
1. a. The female of any equine animal (as the horse, ass, or zebra), but esp. applied to the female of the domestic horse (Equus caballus).
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xii. [xiv.] (1890) 196 Cwist ðu þaet þe sy leofre þære myran sunu þonne þæt Godes bearn? c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 119/36 Equa, mere. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 85 He brohte hine uppen his werue [= jumentum Luke x. 34] þet is unorne mare. c 1290 Becket 1161 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 Þo wende forth a man, þat with him eode: and huyrde him a mere, For an Englichs peni. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 161 Youre hors goth to the fen With wilde mares. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xl. (1495) 801 A maare foolyth stondynge and louyth her coltes passynge other beestys. a 1400–50 Alexander 2853 Meeris & mulis & all maner of bestis. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 697/34 Hec equa, a mer. Ibid. 698/7 Hec equifera, a wyld mer. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 371 No horsez ner marys stande in the markett. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 Baytht horse & meyris did fast nee, & the folis nechyr. 1576 in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 377 An old meare. 1594 in Black Bk. Taymouth (Bannatyne Cl.) 298 Off greit meirris xlvi; off twa yeir auld hors, v... Off greit mearis xxxviii..off yeir auld meiris, iiii. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 334 A Bitch whelps at foure moneths; a Mare Foales the ninth. a 1774 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance (1775) I. 295 A park, where he kept mares for breed. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes II. 152 He comes to me with another letter and a face as long as my mare's. |
¶ Used for: The mother, dam (of a horse).
| a 1400 Octouian 1416 Thys ys a stede of Arabye..An vnycorn..Begat hyt thare: A rabyte..Therto was mare. |
b. In various proverbial phrases.
grey mare: see
grey a. 4 b.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 43 Of auncient fathers she tooke no cure nor care, She was to them, as koy as a crokers mare. Ibid. 62 This biteth the mare by the thumbe, as they sey. 1562 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 142 The heidismen hes ‘cor mundum’ in þair mouth, Bot nevir w{supt} mynd to gif þe man his meir. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 463. 1597 ― 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 47 How now? whose Mare's dead? what's the matter? 1606 Choice, Chance, etc. (Grosart) 68 Can seeme as sober as a Millers Mare, And cannot blush at any villany. 1607 Acc. Christmas Prince (1816) 40 Now Night growes old, yet walkes here in his trappinge Till Daye come catch him, as Mosse his graymare, nappinge. 1611 Cotgr., A desprouveu, at vnawares..vnlooked for; napping, as Mosse tooke his Mare. 1659 Howell Lex., Prov. 6/2 Money makes the grey Mare to go. 1698 Money Masters All Things 3 [Money] Makes the old Wife trot, and makes the Mare to go. 1827 T. Creevey in C. Papers (1904) II. 123 No tidings of the Beau yet! but he must have his mare again. |
c. Applied,
orig. contemptuously, to a woman.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 7980 And shame hyt ys euer aywhare To be kalled ‘a prestës mare’. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 261 This Dewlbeir, generit of a meir of Mar, Wes Corspatrik, Erle of Merche. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 463 The man shall have his mare again. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 231 She's a gamey mare and no mistake. 1953 C. W. Ogle in Caribbean Anthol. Short Stories 43 Forgot her keys! Bah! These mares give me the creeps. |
2. transf. in various applications, chiefly with implication of a metaphorical ‘riding.’
a. The gallows. ?
Obs.| 1568 U. Fulwell Like will to like C iv, This peece of land wherto you inheritours are: Is called the land of the two legged mare. 1685 Roxb. Ball. V. 600 Should it..be his Fate (as needs he must fear) To leap from low Pillory up the Mare, She'll swear she had never such rider before. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. iv. (1737) 14 The two or three-legg'd Mare that groans for them. 1834 H. Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, Here's to the three leg'd mare. Ibid., For the Mare-with-three-legs, boys, I care not a rap. |
† b. the wild mare: (
a) a see-saw; (
b) a wooden frame on which soldiers were made to ‘ride’ for punishment;
= horse n. 6 b (also
wooden mare,
timber mare).
shoeing the wild mare: some childish Christmas game.
Obs.| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 211 b, Bestriding the mast, I gat..towards him, after such manner as boies are wont, (if euer you saw that sport) when they ride the wild mare. 1609 R. Armin Maids of More-Cl. (1880) 92 Christmas gambuls, father, shooing the wilde mare. a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize ii. v., She should ride the wild Mare once a week, she should. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Spalding Club 1850) I. 290 Ane tymber meir, quhairvpone runnaget knaves and runaway soldiouris sould ryde. Ibid. 295 He..syne rode the meir, to his gryte hurt and pane. 1680 [J. Speed] Batt upon Batt 5 Our Batt can..play..At..Shooing the wild Mare. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose xiv, He had an hour's ride on the wooden mare for his pains. |
† c. Hick's mare (see
quot.).
Obs.| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator, Oscillatio..a kind of gambol called the haltering of Hix mare. |
¶ For
Shanks's mare (
i.e. one's own legs as a means of conveyance) see
shank.
3. dial. (See
quots.)
| 1670 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 3) s.v., To cry the mare is an ancient custom in Herefordshire, viz. when each husband-man is reaping the last of his Corn, the Work-men leave a few blades standing, and tye the tops of them together, which is the Mare, and then stand at a distance, and throw their Siccles at it, and he that cuts the knot has the prize [etc.]. 1883 Burne & Jackson Shropsh. Folk-lore 373 Crying, calling, or shouting the mare, is a ceremony performed by the men of that farm which is the first in any parish or district to finish the harvest. |
4. Sc. a. A kind of trestle used by masons.
b. A bricklayer's hod.
| a. 1651 Burgh Recs. Stirling (1889) 306 For half a hunder nailles to mak the meare. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish xxxvi. 295 The three were seated aloft, on a high stage, prepared on purpose, with two mares and scaffold-deals, borrowed from Mr. Trowel the mason. |
| b. 1823 Tennant Card. Beaton v. iv. 155, I think I set my apron and my mare as weel as you your apparel. |
5. A particular throw in wrestling. Also
flying mare (
cf. flying horse s.v. flying,
ppl. a. 1 d).
| 1602 Carew Cornwall 76 Many sleights and tricks appertaine hereunto [‘wrastling’]..Such are the Trip, fore-Trip,..the Mare and diuers other like. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 245 Or by the girdles graspt they practise with the hip, The forward, backward, falx, the mare, the turne, the trip. 1754 [see flying ppl. a. 1 d]. 1863 Thornbury True as Steel III. 40 An old wrestling trick, well known as ‘the flying mare’. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. appositive, as
mare colt,
mare foal,
mare mule.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §68 At the foolynge tyme I haue vpon one daye a horse fole, and on the nexte day, or seconde, a mare fole. 1532 J. Catvoord in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 74 A bullock of one yere hold, and a mare colte. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme i. xxx. 200 The mare-mules are..longer liuers then the horse-mules. 1886 Burton Arab. Nts. (Lady B.'s ed.) I. 232 He came up, riding a mare-mule. |
b. simple
attrib., as
mare-head; objective,
mare-milker,
mare-stealing; similative,
mare-faced,
mare-headed,
adjs. Also
mareful Sc., as much as a hod will hold (
cf. 4 b);
mare grass, grazing-grass sufficient to feed one mare;
† mare roiling, the condition of rutting in a stallion;
† mare-wood a.,
mare-mad (of a stallion).
| 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2036/8 A light dapple Gray Gelding,..long pasternd,..and a little *Mare-fac'd. |
| 1823 Tennant Card. Beaton v. iv. 155 I've a *marefu' o' as good lime here as ever cam out o' a lime-kill. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 3 A horse grasse or a *mare grasse maye be dere ynoughe twelfe pens or twentie pens by y⊇ yere. |
| 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4603/4 A..Gelding,..with a thickish *Mare Head. |
| 1684 Ibid. No. 1950/4 A Black Nag, about 14 hands high,..*Mareheaded, and Rat-tailed. |
| 1847 Grote Greece ii. xvii. III. 317 Other tribes..whom the poet knows as milk-eaters and *mare-milkers. |
| 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg. iii. 41 Th' horsmasters earnest be Before the time (of *mareroiling). |
| 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1776) 564 The severity of our laws against *Mare-stealing. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. i. 464 In the Spring they are *mare-wood. |
c. Combinations with
mare's, as
mare's milk;
† mare's evil, a disease;
mare's fat dial.,
= fleabane;
mare's son, a horse.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 253 A Cuppe fulle of Mares mylk. |
| 1649 Eng. Farrier G ij, The *Mares Evill. |
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, *Mare's-fat, Inula dysenterica Lin. |
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. iii. 342, I calle my self neuer the wers knyght whan a *marys sone fayleth me. Ibid. xx. xxii. 837 Yf thys marys sone hath faylled me, wyt thou wel a kynges sone and a quenes sone shal not faylle the. |
▪ II. † mare2 Obs. Also 1
mære,
mere, 6
meare,
maare, 6–7
Sc. mair.
[OE. mare wk. fem. = MLG. mar masc. and fem., MDu. mare, maer masc., OHG. mara fem. (MHG. mar, mare masc. and fem., mod.G. dial. mahr masc.), ON. mara fem. (Sw. mara, Da. mare):—OTeut. *maron-, -ôn-; cogn. w. the synonymous Polish mora, Czech můra. The Teut. word is the source of OF. mare, appearing also in the compound cauchemar nightmare, f. caucher, to trample.] 1. A kind of goblin supposed to produce nightmare by sitting on the chest of the sleeper; the nightmare itself.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 558 Incuba, maere. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 140 Gif mon mare ride; ᵹenim elehtran. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 597/37 The mare i. Epialtes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 326/1 Mare, or nyȝhte mare, epialtes. c 1500 Rowlis Cursing 65 in Laing Anc. Poet. Scot., The mowlis, and in thair sleip the mair. 1562 W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Sicke men 70 The verie cause is, liyng or slepyng on their backe. And not through the mare, or night spirit, as thei term it. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v., Ephialtes, the disease called the maare. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 319 The mair and the migrame, with the meathes in the melt. 1626 Bacon Sylva §966 The Incubus, which we call the Mare. 1627 Drayton Nymphidia vii, And Mab..by night Bestrids young Folkes that lye vpright, (In elder Times the Mare that hight). 1755 in Johnson. |
b. transf. The ‘blues’, melancholy.
| a 1529 Skelton E. Rummyng 110 Now away the mare And let vs sley care. a 1536 Interl. Beauty & Gd. Prop. Wom. A ij, Tush, syr, be mery, let pas awey the mare. 1611 T. Ravenscroft's Melismata vi, Eigh ho, away the Mare, let vs set aside all care. |
2. A spectre, hag.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 326/1 Mare, or wyche, magus, maga, sagana. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparrow 76 From Medusa, that mare, That lyke a fende doth stare. |
3. Comb. in
mare-hag: see
hag n.1| 1638 Ford Fancies iv. i, Out mare-hag mule! avaunt! |
▪ III. † mare3 Obs. (See
quot.)
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 288/2 If in the Reeling of the Yarn upon the Reel, they chance to lay a thred cross or contrary to the true way of Reeling: it is in our Countrey termed a Mare. |
▪ IV. mare4 Astr. (
ˈmɑːreɪ,
ˈmɑːriː,
ˈmæriː)
Pl.
maria (
ˈmɑːrɪə),
occas. mares.
[L., = ‘sea’: used in 17th-c. L. works (e.g. J. Hevelius Selenographia (1647) vi. 133); the proper names (which are still current) given to the various regions were taken into Eng. often without translation.] Any of the extensive areas of flat land (‘seas’) on the surface of the moon, which appear dark and were once thought to be seas; also, any of the dark areas visible on Mars.
| [1765 R. Turner View of Heavens 11 The Oceans, Seas, and Lakes are, a Mare Hyperboreum, [etc.].] 1860 Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. XX. 69 Whatever force might have broken down the portion of the wall towards the mare. 1876 E. Nelson Moon iii. 25 Although water is absent from the lunar surface, the Mares present in many places the appearance of alluvial deposits. 1895 T. G. Elger Moon 6 The Maria are only level in the sense that many districts in the English Midland counties are level, and not that their surface is absolutely flat. 1901 G. P. Serviss Pleasures of Telescope ix. 167 The precipitous Mount Hadley..rises more than 15,000 feet above the level of the Mare. 1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 356 The ‘maria’ are regarded as lava fields from fissure eruptions. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 74 Other conspicuous features on Mars are the so-called maria, dark areas easily distinguished from the surrounding, desert-colored, lighter expanses. 1964 D. H. Menzel Field Guide Stars & Planets vii. 251 Mares are rolling plains, generally somewhat darker than the surrounding territory. 1967 Punch 28 June 936/1 The maria are plains with low hills and scattered craters. Nearly half of the moon's surface which we see is covered with these maria. 1970 Sci. Jrnl. Mar. 83/3 A catastrophic event hit both the Earth and the Moon, melting the lunar surface—or at least surfaces of the mares. 1970 Nature 6 June 925/1 The form and magnitude of the mascon anomalies can be accounted for by sheets of mare volcanic rock denser than the rock of the adjacent highlands. |
▪ V. mare see
mar,
marc,
mayor,
mere,
more.