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mere

- 15 dictionary results

mere

1[meer]
–adjective, superlative mer⋅est.
1. being nothing more nor better than: a mere pittance; He is still a mere child.
2. Obsolete.
a. pure and unmixed, as wine, a people, or a language.
b. fully as much as what is specified; completely fulfilled or developed; absolute.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME < L merus pure, unmixed, mere


1. Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.

mere

2[meer]
–noun
1. Chiefly British Dialect. a lake or pond.
2. Obsolete. any body of sea water.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE; c. G Meer, ON marr, Goth marei, OIr muir, L mare

mere

3[meer]
–noun British Dialect.
a boundary or boundary marker.
Also, mear.


Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE (ge)mǣre; c. ON mǣri; akin to L mūrus wall, rim

mère

[mer; Eng. mair]
–noun, plural mères [mer; Eng. mairz] . French.
mother.

-mere

a combining form meaning “part,” used in the formation of compound words: blastomere.
Compare -mer, -merous.


Origin:
comb. form repr. Gk méros
mere 1   (mîr)   
adj.   Superlative mer·est
  1. Being nothing more than what is specified: a mere child; a mere 50 cents an hour.
  2. Considered apart from anything else: shocked by the mere idea.
  3. Small; slight: could detect only the merest whisper.
  4. Obsolete Pure; unadulterated.

[Middle English, absolute, pure, from Old French mier, pure, from Latin merus.]
mere 2   (mîr)   
n.  A small lake, pond, or marsh: "Sometimes on lonely mountain meres/I find a magic bark" (Tennyson).

[Middle English, from Old English; see mori- in Indo-European roots.]
mere 3   (mîr)   
n.   Archaic
A boundary.

[Middle English, from Old English mǣre.]

Mere

Mere\, n. [Written also mar.] [OE. mere, AS. mere mere, sea; akin to D. meer lake, OS. meri sea, OHG. meri, mari, G. meer, Icel. marr, Goth. marei, Russ. more, W. mor, Ir. & Gael. muir, L. mare, and perh. to L. mori to die, and meaning originally, that which is dead, a waste. Cf. Mortal, Marine, Marsh, Mermaid, Moor.] A pool or lake. --Drayton. Tennyson.

Mere

Mere\, n. [Written also meer and mear.] [AS. gem[=ae]re. [root]269.] A boundary. --Bacon.

Mere

Mere\, v. t. To divide, limit, or bound. [Obs.]

Which meared her rule with Africa. --Spenser.

Mere

Mere\, n. A mare. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Mere

Mere\, a. [Superl. Merest. The comparative is rarely or never used.] [L. merus.]

1. Unmixed; pure; entire; absolute; unqualified.

Then entered they the mere, main sea. --Chapman.

The sorrows of this world would be mere and unmixed. --Jer. Taylor.

2. Only this, and nothing else; such, and no more; simple; bare; as, a mere boy; a mere form.

From mere success nothing can be concluded in favor of any nation. --Atterbury.
Language Translation for : mere
Spanish: simple, mero,
German: bloß, rein,
Japanese: ほんの

mere  (adj.)
c.1400, "unmixed," from O.Fr. mier "pure, entire," from L. merus "unmixed, pure, bare," used of wine, probably originally "clear, bright," from PIE *mer- "to gleam, glimmer, sparkle" (cf. O.E. amerian "to purify," O.Ir. emer "not clear," Skt. maricih "ray, beam," Gk. marmarein "to gleam, glimmer"). Original sense of "nothing less than, absolute" (1536, now only in vestiges such as mere folly) existed for centuries alongside opposite sense of "nothing more than" (1581, e.g. a mere dream).

mere  (n.)
O.E. mere "sea, lake, pool, pond," from P.Gmc. *mari (cf. O.N. marr, O.S. meri "sea," Du. meer "lake," O.H.G. mari, Ger. Meer "sea," Goth. marei "sea," mari-saiws "lake"), from PIE *mori-/*mari "sea" (cf. L. mare, O.C.S. morje, Rus. more, Lith. mares, O.Ir. muir, Welsh mor "sea," Gaulish Are-morici "people living near the sea").
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