sire
English
Etymology
From Middle English sire, from Old French sire, the nominative singular of seignor; from Latin senior, from senex. Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, senior, señor, signore, and sir. Cognate with French monsieur.
Pronunciation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/King_William_III_of_England%2C_%281650-1702%29.jpg/220px-King_William_III_of_England%2C_%281650-1702%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Darley_Arabian.jpg/220px-Darley_Arabian.jpg)
Noun
sire (plural sires)
- A lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign.
- A male animal that has fathered a particular offspring (especially used of domestic animals and/or in biological research).
- (obsolete) A father; the head of a family; the husband.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 154, column 1:
- He but a Duke, would haue his Sonne a King, / And raiſe his iſſue like a louing Sire.
- 1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D[ennis] Lawler, “[Book I. Oswald.] Chapter I.”, in Corinna; or, Italy. […], volume I, London: […] Corri, […]; and sold by Colburn, […], and Mackenzie, […], →OCLC, pages 5–6:
- Sometimes, also, he reproached himself, for abandoning those abodes where his father had dwelt. “Who knows,” said he to himself, “whether the shades of the departed are allowed to pursue, every where, the objects of their affection? Perhaps it is only permitted them to wander about the spot where their ashes repose! Perhaps in this moment does the spirit of my sire regret the absence of his son, while distance prevents my hearing his voice, exerted to recall me.[”]
- (obsolete) A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
- 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 8:
- Most musical of mourners, weep again! / Lament anew, Urania!—He died, / Who was the sire of an immortal strain, […]
Coordinate terms
- (male animal): dam
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
sire (third-person singular simple present sires, present participle siring, simple past and past participle sired)
- (transitive, of a male) To father; to beget.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 6:
- In these travels, my father sired thirteen children in all, four boys and nine girls.
Translations
Anagrams
Danish
Etymology
Verb
sire
- (archaic) adorn
- (archaic, by extension, especially in the passive participle) endow with a favorable quality
Derived terms
References
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French sire (nominative form), from Vulgar Latin *seior (used as a term of address), a contracted form of Latin senior (compare French seigneur, derived from the accusative form), perhaps influenced by maior. Doublet of seigneur, senior, and sieur.
Pronunciation
Noun
sire m (plural sires)
- (obsolete) sire (term of respect) (Still used in at least partly French-speaking kingdoms such as Belgium or Canada as a form of address to the sovereign)
- (obsolete) lord
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “sire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French sire. See also sere. Doublet of signore.
Pronunciation
Noun
sire m (invariable)
Anagrams
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French sire, nominative singular of seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of senyour.
Pronunciation
Noun
sire (plural sires)
- Used preceding the name or title of a knight, noble, or cleric.
- A respectful term of address for a noble or gentleman.
- A noble or lord; one of high station.
- A husband as the head of a household.
- A father as one's progenitor.
Descendants
References
- “sī̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old French
Pronunciation
Noun
sire m
Pali
Alternative forms
Noun
sire
Noun
sire
Romanian
Etymology
Noun
sire m (uncountable)
Declension
Serbo-Croatian
Verb
sire (Cyrillic spelling сире)
Slovene
Noun
sire
- accusative plural of sir
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *sénos
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)/1 syllable
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms of address
- en:Male animals
- en:Male family members
- Danish terms derived from German
- Danish lemmas
- Danish verbs
- Danish terms with archaic senses
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *sénos
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:French/iʁ
- Rhymes:French/iʁ/1 syllable
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with obsolete senses
- Italian terms borrowed from Old French
- Italian terms derived from Old French
- Italian doublets
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ire
- Rhymes:Italian/ire/2 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English doublets
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English polite terms
- Middle English terms of address
- enm:Male family members
- enm:Nobility
- enm:Male people
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French non-lemma forms
- Old French noun forms
- Pali non-lemma forms
- Pali noun forms
- Pali noun forms in Latin script
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian uncountable nouns
- Romanian masculine nouns
- Serbo-Croatian non-lemma forms
- Serbo-Croatian verb forms
- Slovene non-lemma forms
- Slovene noun forms