dare
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɛə/
ipa: /dɛ(ə)ɹ/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: Dair
homophone: dear
homophone: deer (both cheer–chair merger)
Forms: form: dares
form: dare
form: dast
form: daring
form: dared
form: dared
form: durst
form: durst
Etymology: From Middle English durren, from Old English durran, from Proto-West Germanic *durʀan, from Proto-Germanic *durzaną (“to dare”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰedʰórse (“to dare”), reduplicated stative of the root *dʰers- (“to be bold, to dare”), an *-s- extension of *dʰer- (“to hold, support”).
Cognates
Cognate with Low German dören, Dutch durven, German turren, Sanskrit दधर्ष (dadhárṣa), but also with Ancient Greek θρασύς (thrasús), Albanian nder, Lithuanian drįsti, Russian дерза́ть (derzátʹ).
Senses: examples: text: I wouldn't dare (to) argue with my boss.
text: No one dares (to) criticize his decisions.
text: The fellow dares not deceive me.
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Because they durst not, because they could not.
ref: 1832, Thomas Macaulay, Parliamentary Reform:
text: Don't back away just yet / From destinations set / I dare you to be proud / To dare to shout aloud / For convictions that you feel / Like sound from bells to peal
ref: 1980, “Double Dare”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus, Track 1:
glosses: To have enough courage (to do something).
examples: text: I dare you to kiss that girl.
text: Don't back away just yet / From destinations set / I dare you to be proud / To dare to shout aloud / For convictions that you feel / Like sound from bells to peal
ref: 1980, “Double Dare”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus, Track 1:
text: Particular note, in this period, should be made of the actions of Joseph Denman, commander of the Northern Division of the Squadron, who went on an absolutely ruthless and systematic campaign along the African coast, burning so-called "slaving factories" to the ground and openly daring anyone who objected to try and stop him.
ref: 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 9:26 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
glosses: To defy or challenge (someone to do something).
examples: text: Will you dare death to reach your goal?
text: To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes.
ref: 1886, Clarence King, The Century:
glosses: To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to.
examples: text: For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman.
ref: c. 1608–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Maid’s Tragedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:
glosses: To terrify; to daunt.
examples: text: I have an hobby can make larks to dare
ref: 1516, John Skelton, Magnificence, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 35:
text: dare us, like larks
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: How, think you, would that godly prince (if he were now living) handle our idols, set up against God's commandment directly, and being figures of nothing but folly, and for fools to gaze on, till they become as wise as the blocks themselves which they stare on, and so fall down as dared larks in that gaze, and being themselves alive, worship a dead stock or stone, gold or silver, and so become idolaters […]
ref: 1815, Church of England, Sermons: Or, Homilies, page 210:
glosses: To drive larks to the ground by scaring them (for instance, with mirrors or hawks) so they can be caught in nets.
Derived terms: bedare
daredevil
daredn't
daren't
darer
daresay
dare say
dare-say
dare-saying
daresn't
daresome
daring
dassn't
dasn't
double dare
double dog dare
how dare someone
how dare you
how very dare you
I dare be bound
outdare
overdare
triple dog dare
undared