dare
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: games
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).
Inflected forms:
form: dares
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: dare
pos: verb
tags: modal
present
singular
third-person
form: dast
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
present
singular
third-person
form: daring
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: dared
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: dared
pos: verb
tags: past
form: durst
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
participle
past
form: durst
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
past
form: dares
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To have enough courage (to do something).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I wouldn't dare (to) argue with my boss.
No one dares (to) criticize his decisions.
They daredn't tell me the truth, even though I dared (to) acknowledge my mistake to them.
I daren't tell him I've had an affair with another man.
The fellow dares not deceive me.
Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Because they durst not, because they could not.
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
gloss: To defy or challenge (someone to do something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I dare you to kiss that girl.
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
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.
gloss: To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Will you dare death to reach your goal?
To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes.
1926, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist
Servants would hardly dare to enter the room where, glooming and glowering, the maned and bearded head looked up from his papers as a lion from a bone. Only Enid could dare him at such a time, and even she felt occasionally that sinking of the heart which the bravest of tamers may experience as he unbars the gate of the cage.
gloss: To terrify; to daunt.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman.
gloss: To drive larks to the ground by scaring them (for instance, with mirrors or hawks) so they can be caught in nets.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: I have an hobby can make larks to dare
dare us, like larks
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 […]
gloss: A challenge to prove courage.
pos: noun
examples: I did it just for a dare.
gloss: The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness.
pos: noun
examples: It lends a lustre […] / A large dare to our great enterprise.
gloss: Defiance; challenge.
pos: noun
examples: Childish, unworthy dares / Are not enough to part our powers.
Sextus Pompeius / Hath given the dare to Caesar.
gloss: In the game truth or dare, the choice to perform a dare set by the other players.
pos: noun
examples: When asked truth or dare, she picked dare.
Derived words: bedare
daredevil
daredn't
daren't
darer
daresay
dare-say
dare say
dare-saying
daresn't
daresome
daring
dassn't
dasn't
double dare
how dare someone
how dare you
how very dare you
I dare be bound
outdare
overdare
triple dog dare
undared
double dog dare
dairous
dareful
Translations: