tear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: târ
ipa: /tɛə/
ipa: /tɛː/
enpr: târ
ipa: /tɛɹ/
ipa: /teː/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /tiə/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /teə/
ipa: /teɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /tɜː(ɹ)/
homophone: tare
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
enpr: tîr
ipa: /tɪə/
ipa: /tɪː/
enpr: tîr
ipa: /tɪəɹ/
ipa: /tiə/
homophone: tier (“layer or rank”)
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
enpr: târ
ipa: /tɛə/
ipa: /tɛː/
enpr: târ
ipa: /tɛɹ/
ipa: /teː/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /tiə/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /teə/
ipa: /teɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /tɜː(ɹ)/
homophone: tare
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Forms: form: tears
Etymology: From Middle English teer (“tear”), from Old English tēar, from Proto-West Germanic *tahr, from Proto-Germanic *tahrą (“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru- (“tears”).
Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂 (tagr), Irish deoir and Latin lacrima.
Senses: examples: text: Big tears streamed from Lisa's eyes, rolling down her cheeks.
text: Ryan wiped the tear from the paper he was crying on.
text: I pray you in your Letters, / When you ſhall theſe vnluckie deeds relate, / Speake of me, as I am. […] / Of one, whoſe ſubdu'd Eyes, / Albeit un-vsed to the melting moode, / Drops teares as faſt as the Arabian Trees / Their Medicinable gumme.
ref: 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act V, scene ii, page 338:
text: '[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because "it was wicked to dress us like charity children".[…]'
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
examples: text: Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears.
ref: 1717, William Congreve, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Laurence Eusden, John Ozell, “Book X”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
qualifier: glass manufacture
glosses: A partially vitrified bit of clay in glass.
examples: text: Without meed of some melodious tear. Begin then, Sisters of the sacred well [...]
ref: 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago, Cambridge: Printed by Thomas Buck, and Roger Daniel, published 1638, page 131:
glosses: That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
Derived terms: angel's tears
Apache tear
artificial tear
artificial tear drop
baby's tears
crocodile tears
Dutch tear
end in tears
glass tear
in tears
Pele's tear
Prince Rupert's tear
Rupert's tear
shed a tear
tear blower
tear-brimmed
tear catcher
tear dress
teardrop
tear duct
tear fluid
tearful
tear gas
tear gland
tearjerker
tear-jerking
tear line
tear pit
tear-pit
tearpit
tear sac
tears of wine
tearstained
tear stick
tear up
teary
two tears in a bucket
vale of tears