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mere

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Mere, mère, merë, -mere, and mēre

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Pronunciation

(body of water; limit; famous; just, only):
(Maori war-club):

Etymology 1

    From Middle English mere, mer, from Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, gleam”).

    Cognate with Old English āmerian, āmyrian (“to purify, examine, revise”). The Middle English word was perhaps influenced by or conflated with sound-alike Middle English mere (“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”), from Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz.

    Adjective

    mere (comparative merer, superlative merest)

    1. Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected. [from 16th c.]
      Synonyms: alone, bare, simple, only, very
      The mere thought of pineapple on pizza makes me want to throw up.
      • 1733, I[saac] W[atts], “Essay I. A Fair Enquiry and Debate Concerning Space. Sect[ion] XII. Space Nothing Real, but a Meer Abstract Idea.”, in Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects, […], London: […] Richard Ford […], and Richard Hett […], →OCLC, page 44:
        And ſo vve may have an ever-grovving Idea of infinite Number as vvell as infinite Space or Emptineſs, yet it is a meer Idea, and hath no real Exiſtence vvithout us.
      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC:
        Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].
      • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything: Black Swan, page 23:
        ...And ocean salinity, of course, represented only the merest sliver of my ignorance. I didn't know what a proton was, didn't know a quark from a quasar, didn't know how geologists could look at a layer of rock on a canyon wall and tell you how old it was, didn't know anything, really. I became gripped by a quiet, unwonted but insistent urge to know a little more about these matters and to understand above all how people figured them out.
      • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
        More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.
      • 2012 March, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106:
        Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
      • 2019, Con Man Games, SmashGames, quoting Margaret, Kindergarten 2, SmashGames:
        Ah...my sister wishes to see you. A mere child. She never wants to have lunch with her dear sister, but I guess that's not your problem.
    2. (obsolete) Pure, unalloyed [8th–17th c.].
    3. (obsolete) Nothing less than; complete, downright [15th–18th c.].
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Etymology 2

      From Middle English mere, from Old English mǣre, ġemǣre (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairiją (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”). Cognate with Dutch meer (“a limit, boundary”), Icelandic mærr (“borderland”), Swedish landamäre (“border, borderline, boundary”).

      Alternative forms

      Noun

      mere (plural meres)

      1. Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.
      Derived terms

      Verb

      mere (third-person singular simple present meres, present participle mering, simple past and past participle mered)

      1. (transitive, obsolete) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
      2. (intransitive, obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
      3. (cartography) To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.
        • 2016 April, David EM Andrews, “Merely a question of boundaries.”, in Sheetlines‎, The Charles Close Society, →ISSN:
          What chance is there of revising this example of case law to include an exception to the generally cited rule when an administrative boundary has been mered in the past to coincide with a private property boundary?

      Etymology 3

        From Middle English mere, from Old English mere (“lake, pool,” in compounds and poetry “sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognate with West Frisian mar, 'lake', Dutch meer, 'lake', Low German Meer, and German Meer, 'sea'. Non-Germanic cognates include Latin mare, Breton mor, and Russian мо́ре (móre). Doublet of maar and mare (“a large, dark plain; a lake on Titan”).

        Alternative forms

        Noun

        mere (plural meres)

        1. (dialectal or literary) A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond (formerly even a body of seawater), especially a broad, shallow one. (Also included in place names such as Windermere.)
          • 1622, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 20 p. 16:
            When making for the Brooke, the Falkoner doth espie
            On River, Plash, or Mere, where store of Fowle doth lye:
          • 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume (please specify |volume=I to VIII), London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC:
            The meres of Shropshire and Cheshire.
          • 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
            As a tempest influences the sluggish waters of the deadest mere.
          • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC:
            A gloomy-gladed hollow slowly sink
            To westward - in the deeps whereof a mere,
            Round as the red eye of an Eagle-owl,
            Under the half-dead sunset glared
          • 1897, Transactions of the Manchester Geological and Mining Society, page 500:
            […] the salt field which extends from those old salt meres at Barton, a little south of Birkdale, and on to Preesall, near Fleetwood.
          • 1913, Annie S. Swan, The Fairweathers:
            She loved.. to watch the lovely shadows in the silent depths of the placid mere.
          • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber & Faber, published 2005, page 194:
            Lok got to his feet and wandered along by the marshes towards the mere where Fa had disappeared.
        Derived terms

        Etymology 4

          See mayor.

          Noun

          mere (plural meres)

          1. (obsolete) Alternative form of mayor and mair.

          Etymology 5

            Borrowed from Maori mere (“more”).

            Noun

            mere (plural meres)

            1. A Maori war-club.
              • 2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 41:
                As Owen prepared to dismiss the matter, Rule produced something that really caught the great man's eye – a greenstone mere, the warclub of the Maori.

            Anagrams

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            Afrikaans

            Noun

            mere

            1. plural of meer

            Danish

            Etymology

            From Old Danish mere, from Old Norse meiri (“more”), from Proto-Germanic *maizô.

            Pronunciation

            • IPA(key): /meːrə/, [ˈmeːɐ]

            Adjective

            mere

            1. more; to a higher degree
              Han er mere højtidelig end jeg er.
              He is more solemn than I am.
            2. more; in greater quantity
              I har mere plads end jeg har.
              You have more space than I do.

            Usage notes

            "Mere", in the second sense, is only used with uncountable nouns. For countable nouns, use flere.

            Adverb

            mere

            1. more

            Estonian

            Noun

            mere

            1. genitive singular of meri

            Italian

            Adjective

            mere f

            1. feminine plural of mero

            Anagrams

            Latin

            Adverb

            merē (not comparable)

            1. purely, without admixture.
            2. merely, no more or less than

            Verb

            merē

            1. second-person singular present active imperative of mereō

            References

            • “mere”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
            • “mere”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
            • Dictionary of Medieval Latin in British Sources
            • Karl Ernst Georges, Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch (1913/1918; reprinted Darmstadt 1998), vol. 2, column 888 <http://www.zeno.org/nid/20002495945>.
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            Middle Dutch

            Etymology 1

            From Old Dutch mēro, from Proto-West Germanic *maiʀō.

            Adjective

            mêre

            2. greater, larger
              Antonym: minre
            3. older
              Antonym: minre
            Inflection

            This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

            Determiner

            mêre

            1. more
              Antonym: minre
            Descendants
            • Dutch: meer

            Adverb

            mêre

            1. alternative form of mêe

            Etymology 2

            From Old Dutch meri, from Proto-West Germanic *mari.

            Noun

            mēre f or n

            2. lake (fresh water)
            3. sea (salt water)
            Inflection
            More information singular, plural ...
            More information singular, plural ...
            Descendants

            Further reading

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            Middle English

            Etymology 1

              From Old English mǣre, ġemǣre (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairiją (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”).

              Alternative forms

              Noun

              mere (plural meres)

              1. boundary, border
              Descendants
              References

              Etymology 2

                From Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz, *mēraz (“excellent, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *mēros (“large, handsome”). Cognate with Middle High German mære (“famous”), Icelandic mærr (“famous”), and German Mär, Märchen (“fairy tale”).

                Alternative forms

                Adjective

                mere

                1. (of God or Saints) glorious, renowned.
                2. (of persons) illustrious, noble, great.
                3. beautiful, fair.
                4. splendid, fine, good.

                Etymology 3

                Verb

                mere

                1. (Cheshire) alternative form of merren
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                Middle French

                Etymology

                From Old French mere medre, from Latin māter, mātrem.

                Noun

                mere f (plural meres)

                1. mother (female family member)

                Descendants

                Old English

                Pronunciation

                Etymology 1

                From Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea, lake”).

                Cognates

                Cognate with Old Frisian mere (West Frisian mar), Old Saxon meri (Low German Meer), Dutch meer, Old High German meri (German Meer), Old Norse marr (Swedish mar). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin mare, Old Irish muir (Breton mor), Old Church Slavonic море (more) (Russian мо́ре (móre)), Lithuanian mãre.

                Noun

                mere m

                1. lake
                2. pool
                3. (poetic or in compounds) sea
                Declension

                Strong i-stem:

                More information singular, plural ...
                Derived terms
                Descendants
                See also

                Etymology 2

                Noun

                mere f

                1. a mare (female horse)
                Declension

                Weak n-stem:

                More information singular, plural ...
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                Old French

                Alternative forms

                Etymology

                From earlier medre, from Latin māter, mātrem.

                Noun

                mere oblique singular, f (oblique plural meres, nominative singular mere, nominative plural meres)

                1. mother (female family member)

                Descendants

                Polish

                Etymology

                (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

                Pronunciation

                Adverb

                mere (not comparable)

                1. (Eastern Kraków) synonym of całkiem
                2. (Eastern Kraków) synonym of podobnie

                Further reading

                • Błażej Pawłowicz (1892), “mere”, in “Wyrazy gwarowe z okolic Tarnowa”, in Prace Filologiczne (in Polish), volume 4, z. 1, Warsaw: skł. gł. w Księgarni E. Wende i Ska, page 307

                Romanian

                Alternative forms

                Etymology 1

                Pronunciation

                • IPA(key): /ˈme.re/
                • Audio:(file)
                • Rhymes: -ere
                • Hyphenation: me‧re

                Noun

                mere n pl

                1. indefinite plural of măr (“apple”)

                Etymology 2

                Pronunciation

                Verb

                a mere (third-person singular present mere, past participle mers, third-person subjunctive meară or meargă) 3rd conjugation

                1. (Transylvania, Banat, Crișana) alternative form of merge (“to walk; to go; to function”)
                Conjugation
                • Some speakers might combine some of the forms with the -g- still pronounced into this variant. As such, if in a cell there are 2 forms, the first one is the way this verb would normally be conjugated, and the 2nd form is what is more common in usage. This does cause it, however, to become irregular.
                • The gerund form, merând, is rarely, if ever, said, and as such isn’t listed.
                Conjugation of mere(third conjugation)
                More information infinitive, gerund ...

                See also

                Further reading

                Sardinian

                Alternative forms

                Etymology

                From the nominative of Latin maior (“greater, elder”), via intermediate forms like *maire, *meire. For final /-or/ > /-re/, cf. Sardinian sorre, from Latin soror (“sister”).

                Pronunciation

                Noun

                mere m (plural meres)

                1. (Logudorese) owner, master

                References

                • Wagner, Max Leopold (1960–1964), “mère”, in Dizionario etimologico sardo, Heidelberg

                Serbo-Croatian

                Verb

                mere (Cyrillic spelling мере)

                1. third-person plural present of meriti

                Spanish

                Verb

                mere

                1. inflection of merer:
                  1. third-person singular present indicative
                  2. second-person singular imperative

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