mare

1
[ mair ]
See synonyms for mare on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a fully mature female horse or other equine animal.

Origin of mare

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, mere, mare, maire “horse for riding; beast of burden,” Old English mere, myre “mare”; cognate with Old Frisian merie, Dutch merrie, German Mähre, Old Norse merr; the feminine equivalents to Old English mearh, Old High German marah, march, Old Norse marr, Irish marc, “horse, steed”; see also marshal

Words that may be confused with mare

Words Nearby mare

Other definitions for mare (2 of 4)

mare2
[ mair ]

nounObsolete.

Origin of mare

2
First recorded before 900; Middle English mare “night goblin; incubus,” Old English mære, mare, mere “nightmare; monster that oppresses people in their sleep”; cognate with German Mahre, Old Norse mara; see nightmare

Other definitions for mare (3 of 4)

mare3
[ mahr-ey, mair-ee ]

noun,plural ma·ri·a [mahr-ee-uh, mair-]. /ˈmɑr i ə, ˈmɛər-/. Astronomy.
  1. any of the several large, dark plains on the moon and Mars: Galileo believed that the lunar features were seas when he first saw them through a telescope.

Origin of mare

3
First recorded in 1760–70; from Latin: literally, “sea”

Other definitions for Mar.E. (4 of 4)

Mar.E.

abbreviation
  1. Marine Engineer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mare in a sentence

  • Bill Barry's statement that the cru-colored bovine was "lively" and could outrun his sorrel mare was, at least founded upon fact.

    Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
  • The assassin gallops away upon his mare, and seeks by night to cross the Rhone.

    Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred Downer
  • A handsome soldier on a restive bay mare came next, and behind him a huge touring car with a pompous black chauffeur.

    The Sunbridge Girls at Six Star Ranch | Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
  • Coming around the bluff from the opposite direction was a countryman mounted on a powerful gray mare.

  • Kitty, the grey one-eyed mare, came and rubbed her nose against the black horse.

    Menotah | Ernest G. Henham

British Dictionary definitions for mare (1 of 2)

mare1

/ (mɛə) /


noun
  1. the adult female of a horse or zebra

Origin of mare

1
C12: from Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German mariha, Old Norse merr mare

British Dictionary definitions for mare (2 of 2)

mare2

/ (ˈmɑːreɪ, -rɪ) /


nounplural maria (ˈmɑːrɪə)
  1. (capital when part of a name) any of a large number of huge dry plains on the surface of the moon, visible as dark markings and once thought to be seas: Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers)

  2. a similar area on the surface of Mars, such as Mare Sirenum

Origin of mare

2
from Latin: sea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for mare

mare

[ ]


Plural maria (rē-ə)
  1. Any of the large, low-lying dark areas on the Moon or on Mars or other inner planets. The lunar maria are believed to consist of volcanic basalts, and many are believed to be basins formed initially by large impacts with meteoroids and later filled with lava flows. Compare terra.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.