Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A companion.
  • noun A spouse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See feer.
  • See fear.
  • A Middle English form offear.
  • noun A rare Middle English form of fire.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A mate or companion; -- often used of a wife.
  • noun [Obs.] together; in company.
  • adjective obsolete Fierce.
  • noun obsolete Fire.
  • noun obsolete Fear.
  • verb obsolete To fear.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A companion, comrade or friend.
  • noun archaic A spouse; an animal's mate.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English gefēra; see per- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English (Northumbrian) fǣra, aphetic form of ġefēra ( > Middle English y-fere).

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Examples

Comments

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  • fere companion

    December 28, 2006

  • 1. (a.) Fierce.

    2. (n.) A mate or companion; -- often used of a wife.

    3. (n.) Fear.

    4. (n.) Fire.

    Haha!

    September 6, 2008

  • Ha' we lost the goodliest fere o' all

    For the priests and the gallows tree?

    Aye lover he was of brawny men,

    O' ships and the open sea.

    – Ezra Pound, the opening stanza of "The Ballad of the Goodly Fere"

    September 6, 2008

  • A puny or dwarfish person.

    June 25, 2011