Dictionary.com

mire

[ mahyuhr ]
/ maɪər /
See synonyms for: mire / mired on Thesaurus.com

noun

a tract or area of wet, swampy ground; bog; marsh.
ground of this kind, as wet, slimy soil of some depth or deep mud.

verb (used with object), mired, mir·ing.

to plunge and fix in mire; cause to stick fast in mire.
to involve; entangle.
to soil with mire; bespatter with mire.

verb (used without object), mired, mir·ing.

to sink in mire or mud; stick.

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Origin of mire

1300–50; Middle English <Old Norse mȳrr bog; cognate with Old English mēosmoss

OTHER WORDS FROM mire

un·mired, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to mire

quagmire, bog down, entangle, implicate, embroil, ensnare, involve, flounder, enmesh, stick, tangle, trap, goo, swamp, fen, dirt, slime, mud, marsh, ooze

Example sentences from the Web for mire

  • It didn't seem at all necessary to harrow her with the story of Ingerson's miring in the drink demoniac's morass.

    Pirates' Hope|Francis Lynde

  • We found many wet places but no signs of swamps, nor danger of miring.

    William Clayton's Journal|William Clayton

  • For, beyond watching the river to keep the cattle from miring in the mud lately released from frost grip, there was nothing to do.

    Rowdy of the Cross L|B.M. Sinclair, AKA B.M. Bower

  • Canello was so afraid of miring in the soft ground that it was hard to get him across some places that seemed quite innocent.

    A-Birding on a Bronco|Florence A. Merriam

British Dictionary definitions for mire

mire
/ (maɪə) /

noun

a boggy or marshy area
mud, muck, or dirt

verb

to sink or cause to sink in a mire
(tr) to make dirty or muddy
(tr) to involve, esp in difficulties

Derived forms of mire

miriness, nounmiry, adjective

Word Origin for mire

C14: from Old Norse mӯrr; related to moss
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for mire

mire
[ mîr ]

n.

Any of the test objects on the arm of a keratometer whose image, as reflected on the curved surface of the cornea, is used in calculating the amount of astigmatism.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.