Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A biological father.
- noun The male parent of an animal, especially a domesticated mammal.
- noun The plant or gamete responsible for fertilizing an ovule that develops into a seed.
- noun Archaic A male ancestor; a forefather.
- noun Archaic A gentleman of rank.
- noun Archaic Used as a form of address for a superior, especially a king.
- transitive verb To be the biological father of (a child).
- transitive verb To be the male individual or gamete producing (an animal's offspring or a plant's seed) through sexual reproduction.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A master; a lord; hence, a personage of importance; an esquire; a gentleman.
- noun Master; lord; my lord: a respectful and formal title of address, used formerly to men of superior rank, position, or age, especially to a prince. (See
sir .) Sire is or has been in present or recent use only in addressing a king or other sovereign prince. - noun The master of a house; goodman; husband.
- noun An old person; an elder.
- noun A father; an ancestor; a progenitor: used also in composition: as, grandsire; great-grandsire.
- noun The male parent of a beast: used especially of stallions, but also of bulls, dogs, and other domestic animals: generally with dam as the female parent.
- noun A breed; a growth: as, a good sire of pigs, or of cabbages.
- To beget; procreate: used now chiefly of beasts, and especially of stallions.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To beget; to procreate; -- used of beasts, and especially of stallions.
- noun obsolete A lord, master, or other person in authority. See
sir . - noun A tittle of respect formerly used in speaking to elders and superiors, but now only in addressing a sovereign.
- noun A father; the head of a family; the husband.
- noun A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
- noun The male parent of a beast; -- applied especially to horses.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
lord ,master , or other person inauthority , most commonly usedvocatively . - noun A
male animal, especially ahorse ordog . In particular, one which is already, or has already been, afather . - verb transitive Of a male: to
procreate ; tofather ,beget .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun male parent of an animal especially a domestic animal such as a horse
- verb make children
- noun a title of address formerly used for a man of rank and authority
- noun the founder of a family
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sire.
Examples
-
II. i.46 (197,4) _Good Sir_, or so, or _friend_, or _gentleman_] [W: sire] I know not that _sire_ was ever a general word of compliment, as distinct from _sir_; nor do I conceive why any alteration should be made.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
-
Her sire is Big Chief, if you know our racing register.
CHAPTER XII 2010
-
Your sire is responsible for your guidance, and your level of assimilation with humans depends on him.
-
Then I thought of my cousin and all the kind offices she had been wont to do me, and I learned when too late that she had truly loved me; so I wept for her and my mother wept also Presently she said to me, “O my son, thy sire is dead.”
-
Said she, O my son, thy sire is a merchant and Consul of the merchants in the land of Egypt and Sultan of the Sons of the Arabs.
-
If the Marxist dream of Mr Miliband's sire is dead, Soviet-era production statistics are alive and well at the Department For Education And Skills.
Archive 2004-07-04 Laban 2004
-
Her sire is Big Chief, if you know our racing register.
-
Thy sire is a knight; &c., &c., making us both start to our feet with a little scream and then fall back again in fits of laughter.
-
She discovers that two of her father's mares are expected to foal -- and the sire was a Hall of Famer named Bold Ruler.
Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Secretariat Marshall Fine 2010
-
She discovers that two of her father's mares are expected to foal -- and the sire was a Hall of Famer named Bold Ruler.
Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Secretariat Marshall Fine 2010
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.