tire

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/,
  • (Southern American English, Appalachia) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑːɚ/
  • (Midwestern US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtʌɪ̯ɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• Homophone: tyre

Etymology 1

From Middle English tiren, tirien, teorien, from Old English tȳrian, tēorian (“to fail, cease, become weary, be tired, exhausted; tire, weary, exhaust”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *teuʀōn (“to cease”), which is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dews- (“to fail, be behind, lag”). Compare Ancient Greek δεύομαι (deúomai, “to lack”), Sanskrit दोष (dóṣa, “crime, fault, vice, deficiency”).

Alternative forms

• tyre (dialectal)

Verb

tire (third-person singular simple present tires, present participle tiring, simple past and past participle tired)

1. (intransitive) To become sleepy or weary.
   • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport‎:

     As Moldova understandably tired after a night of ball chasing, Everton left-back Baines scored his first international goal as his deflected free-kick totally wrong-footed Namasco.

2. (transitive) To make sleepy or weary.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tire

3. (intransitive) To become bored or impatient (with).

   I tire of this book.

5. (transitive) To bore.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cause boredom

Derived terms

Related terms

• tiresome

Translations

References

Etymology 2

Believed from Middle English tire (“equipment”) aphetic form of attire; see details at tyre. See also German zieren (“to decorate”).

Alternative forms

• (rubber covering on a wheel): tyre

Noun

tire (plural tires)

1. (American spelling, Canadian spelling) alternative spelling of tyre: The rubber covering on a wheel.
2. (American spelling) alternative spelling of tyre: The metal rim of a wheel, especially that of a railroad locomotive.
3. A child's apron covering the upper part of the body, and tied with tape or cord; a pinafore. Also tier.
4. (obsolete) Accoutrements, accessories.
   • 1705, John Philips, Blenheim:

     the tire of war

5. (obsolete) Dress, clothes, attire.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Ne spared they to strip her naked all. / Then when they had despoild her tire and call, / Such as she was, their eyes might her behold.

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , New York Review of Books 2001, p.66:

     men like apes follow the fashions in tires, gestures, actions: if the king laugh, all laugh .

6. A covering for the head; a headdress.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 144:

     And on her head she wore a tyre of gold,

Usage notes

• Tire is one of the few words where Canadian usage prefers the US spelling over the British spelling.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

tire (third-person singular simple present tires, present participle tiring, simple past and past participle tired)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To dress or adorn.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 2 Kings 9:30:

     [Jezebel] painted her face, and tired her head.

Related terms

• tiring-house

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English tire, from Old French tirer (“to draw or pull”), akin to English tear (“to rend”).

Alternative forms

• tyre

Verb

tire (third-person singular simple present tires, present participle tiring, simple past and past participle tired)

1. (obsolete) To seize, pull, and tear prey, as a hawk does.
   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: Richard Field, , →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: , 4th edition, London: J M Dent and Co. , 1896, →OCLC:

     Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, / Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , lines 94–97:

     I grieve myself / To think, when thou shalt be disedged by her / That now thou tirest on, how thy memory / Will then be pang'd by me.

   • 1612–1613, Nathan Field, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Honest Mans Fortune”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene v:

     Ye dregs of baseness, vultures amongst men, / That tire upon the hearts of generous spirits.

2. (obsolete) To seize, rend, or tear something as prey; to be fixed upon, or engaged with, anything.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:

     and now doth gaſtly death
     With greedie talients gripe my bleeding hart,
     And like a Harpye tires on my life.

   • 1616, George Chapman, Iliad:

     Thus made she her remove, / And left wrath tyring on her son.

   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Upon that were my thoughts tiring.

Etymology 4

Noun

tire (plural tires)

1. A tier, row, or rank.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     In posture to displode their second tire / Of thunder.

Further reading

• “tire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tire”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• REIT, Teri, iter, iter., reit, rite, tier, trie

Asturian

Verb

tire

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of tirar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of tirar

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Russian тире (tire), ultimately from French tiret.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: ti‧re

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tire (definite accusative tireni, plural tirelər)

1. dash (punctuation mark)

Declension

French

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tiʁ/

Verb

tire

1. inflection of tirer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 2

Deverbal from tirer.

Noun

tire f (plural tires)

1. (in expressions) verbal noun of tirer; pulling, drawing

   vol à la tire ― pickpocketing

   voleur à la tire ― pickpocket

   métier à la tire ― drawloom

2. (Canada) taffy, especially maple taffy

   tire d’érable ― maple taffy

3. (France, informal) car
4. (dated) route

Etymology 3

From English.

Noun

tire m (plural tires)

1. (Canada, Louisiana) tire, tyre (of a car, truck, etc)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• trie, trié

Galician

Verb

tire

1. inflection of tirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French tirer (“shoot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tiɣe/

Verb

tire

1. To shoot (hit with a bullet or arrow)

Hausa

Etymology

Borrowed from English tray.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tì.ré/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key):

Noun

tìr̃ê m (possessed form tìr̃ên)

1. tray

Portuguese

Verb

tire

1. inflection of tirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtəiər/

Verb

tire (third-person singular simple present tires, present participle tirin, simple past tiret, past participle tiret)

1. to tire

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiɾe/
• Rhymes: -iɾe
• Syllabification: ti‧re

Verb

tire

1. inflection of tirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Turkish

Etymology

From French tiret.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ti.ɾe/

Noun

tire (definite accusative tireyi, plural tireler)

1. "-" Hyphen-minus symbol, used as a hyphen, minus sign, and a dash.

Declension