sire

English

Etymology

From Middle English sire, from Old French sire, the nominative singular of seignor; from Latin senior, from senex. Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, senior, señor, signore, and sir. Cognate with French monsieur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

sire (plural sires)

1. A lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign.
2. A male animal that has fathered a particular offspring (especially used of domestic animals and/or in biological research).
3. (obsolete) A father; the head of a family; the husband.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 154, column 1:

     He but a Duke, would haue his Sonne a King, / And raiſe his iſſue like a louing Sire.

   • 1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D Lawler, “ Chapter I.”, in Corinna; or, Italy. , volume I, London: Corri, ; and sold by Colburn, , and Mackenzie, , →OCLC, pages 5–6:

     Sometimes, also, he reproached himself, for abandoning those abodes where his father had dwelt. “Who knows,” said he to himself, “whether the shades of the departed are allowed to pursue, every where, the objects of their affection? Perhaps it is only permitted them to wander about the spot where their ashes repose! Perhaps in this moment does the spirit of my sire regret the absence of his son, while distance prevents my hearing his voice, exerted to recall me.[”]

4. (obsolete) A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
   • 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, , Pisa, Italy: Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas , 1927, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 8:

     Most musical of mourners, weep again! / Lament anew, Urania!—He died, / Who was the sire of an immortal strain, […]

Coordinate terms

• (male animal): dam

Derived terms

• sire-land

Translations

Verb

sire (third-person singular simple present sires, present participle siring, simple past and past participle sired)

1. (transitive, of a male) To father; to beget.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 6:

     In these travels, my father sired thirteen children in all, four boys and nine girls.

Translations

Anagrams

• EIRs, Eris, Iser, SIer, Seri, eirs, ires, reis, rise

Danish

Etymology

From German zieren.

Verb

sire

1. (archaic) adorn
2. (archaic, by extension, especially in the passive participle) endow with a favorable quality

Derived terms

• vansire

References

• “sire” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French sire (nominative form), from Vulgar Latin *seior (used as a term of address), a contracted form of Latin senior (compare French seigneur, derived from the accusative form), perhaps influenced by maior. Doublet of seigneur, senior, and sieur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siʁ/
• Rhymes: -iʁ
• Homophones: cire, cirent, cires, sires

Noun

sire m (plural sires)

1. (obsolete) sire (term of respect) (Still used in at least partly French-speaking kingdoms such as Belgium or Canada as a form of address to the sovereign)
2. (obsolete) lord

Derived terms

• triste sire

Related terms

• monsieur
• seigneur

Further reading

• “sire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• ries

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French sire. See also sere. Doublet of signore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.re/
• Rhymes: -ire
• Hyphenation: sì‧re

Noun

sire m (invariable)

1. king, monarch (only when addressing a sovereign)

   Synonyms: re, sovrano, monarca, maestà

Anagrams

• Eris, IRES, ersi, resi, rise, seri

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sir, sirre, syre, syr, seere, ser, sure, sore
• ẜ

Etymology

From Old French sire, nominative singular of seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of senyour.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːr(ə)/, /ˈsir(ə)/, /ˈsɛr(ə)/

Noun

sire (plural sires)

1. Used preceding the name or title of a knight, noble, or cleric.
2. A respectful term of address for a noble or gentleman.
3. A noble or lord; one of high station.
4. A husband as the head of a household.
5. A father as one's progenitor.

Descendants

• English: sir; sire
• Scots: sir; sire

References

• “sī̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiɾə/

Noun

sire m

1. nominative singular of sieur

Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

sire

1. locative singular of siras (“head”)

Noun

sire

1. vocative singular of sirā (“vein”)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sire.

Noun

sire m (uncountable)

1. sire

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

sire (Cyrillic spelling сире)

1. third-person plural present of siriti

Slovene

Noun

sire

1. accusative plural of sir