Sentence:  He , with fifteen or twenty horses or mares or geldings or what-nots out there in the barn , <WSD>was</WSD> reverent only of `` the Mare '' , `` the Racin ' Mare '' , the revolting Gunny . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)