sire
[sahyuh r]
- the male parent of a quadruped.
- a respectful term of address, now used only to a male sovereign.
- Archaic.
- a father or forefather.
- a person of importance or in a position of authority, as a lord.
- to beget; procreate as the father.
Origin of sire
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French (nominative singular) < Vulgar Latin *seior, for Latin senior senior (compare French monsieur orig., my lord, with sieur < *seiōr-, oblique stem of *seior)
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sired
Contemporary Examples
Laffer has sired a prodigious number of children, six of them.
And yes, he lied one more time after being caught by a tabloid photographer with said woman and the child he sired.
Historical Examples
We are black, born of black mothers, and sired by black fathers.
My Kalulu, Prince, King and SlaveHenry M. Stanley
It was conceived in avarice, sired in ignorance, and dammed in greed.
The Modern Ku Klux KlanHenry Peck Fry
That great being who sired our glorious country, is yet to come again.
The Corner House Girls in a PlayGrace Brooks Hill
Sired by a hurricane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother's side!
Life On The Mississippi, CompleteMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
She's a beauty, gentlemen, sired by the famous Potiphar who won the Epsom Handicap and no end of minor stakes.
Boyhood in NorwayHjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
sire
- a male parent, esp of a horse or other domestic animal
- a respectful term of address, now used only in addressing a male monarch
- obsolete a man of high rank
- (tr) (esp of a domestic animal) to father; beget
Word Origin
C13: from Old French, from Latin senior an elder, from senex an old man
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for sired
sire
n.
c.1200, title placed before a name and denoting knighthood, from Old French sire "lord (appellation), sire, my lord," from Vulgar Latin *seior, from Latin senior "older, elder" (see senior (adj.)). Standing alone and meaning "your majesty" it is attested from early 13c. General sense of "important elderly man" is from mid-14c.; that of "father, male parent" is from mid-13c.
sire
v.
"to beget, to be the sire of," 1610s, from sire (n.). Used chiefly of beasts, especially of stallions. Related: Sired; siring.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper