sire
Americannoun
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the male parent of a quadruped.
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a respectful term of address, now used only to a male sovereign.
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Archaic.
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a father or forefather.
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a person of importance or in a position of authority, as a lord.
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verb (used with object)
noun
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a male parent, esp of a horse or other domestic animal
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a respectful term of address, now used only in addressing a male monarch
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obsolete a man of high rank
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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siresimple
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siressimple
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have siredperfect
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has siredperfect
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am siringprogressive
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are siringprogressive
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is siringprogressive
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have been siringperfect progressive
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has been siringperfect progressive
Past
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siredsimple
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had siredperfect
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was siringprogressive
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were siringprogressive
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had been siringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sire
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French (nominative singular) < Vulgar Latin *seior, for Latin senior senior (compare French monsieur originally, my lord, with sieur < *seiōr-, oblique stem of *seior )
Explanation
A sire is an animal's father. A newborn foal might look very much like his sire, with a white stripe on his brown face. Every once in a while, the word sire is used for a human — your dad is your sire — but it's much more common to find this word describing an animal's male parent. It's also a verb, meaning "to father," as in "My prize pig sires the cutest piglets." In the old days, you'd also use sire to directly address a nobleman or a king. It comes from the Latin word senior, "elder."
Vocabulary lists containing sire
The Princess Bride
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 3
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The Sea of Monsters
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But Runhappy’s sire, Super Saver, won the 2010 Derby, and So Happy’s grandsire on his mother’s side is Blame, who captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that year at Churchill Downs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
Three years on, the Purosangue remains an astonishing presence on any street, a provocation, an outrage, a moral panic—indeed, sire, very like a Ferrari.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
The tendency of one sire to spread a harmful mutation among its descendants even has a name, “the popular sire effect.”
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2023
A corner stall in the stallion barn still bears Secretariat’s name and that of his sire, Bold Ruler, among those of other elites who have inhabited the space.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2023
Fitzsimmons began to wonder if this horse might be just as obstreperous as his sire, only much more cunning in his methods.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
The mare was sired by Northern Dancer, the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 1964 who went on to become one of the sport’s greatest sires.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
“If they’re not by a sire who throws sires, they tend to run longer,” Baffert said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2021
Rickard said this compared to recently frozen semen from 19 sires used to inseminate 1,048 ewes, of which 618 were successfully impregnated.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2019
Oatley and his colleagues are now working to develop surrogate pig sires.
From Nature ● Mar. 13, 2019
He would run in two more minor races, winning both, then go on to become one of the breed’s great sires.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
On his deathbed, however, he had a change of heart and left his fortune to the creation of a refuge for children like the one he sired and abandoned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
He was sired by Curlin with Mopotism as the mare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2025
It was first top-level Group One winner to be sired by 2015 Derby winner Golden Horn.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2025
Mouse pups sired by dysbiotic fathers showed significantly lower birth weights and an increased rate of postnatal mortality.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2024
“One was sired by Harle the Huntsman, t’other by Harle the Handsome, both on the same woman. Fathers hate each other. I was you, I’d send one to Eastwatch and t’other to your Shadow Tower.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Paramount Global has created numerous spin-offs of its main cable channels, with Nickelodeon siring five programming offspring, Nick Jr., Nick at Nite, TeenNick, Nicktoons and Nick Music.
From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023
A Dutch court banned a man Friday from donating any more of his sperm after his donations led to the siring of 550 to 600 children.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
There would likely still have been a sectarian power struggle over a weakened state, siring a civil war and brewing regional tensions.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2018
When Tom swaps Rachel for Anna as queen of Westchester, siring infant Evie but a year later, such rancor becomes even more understandable given the protagonist’s battle with infertility.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2016
But Louie, the instant her uncle stopped, broke into a siring of questions, shrill and breathless, her face quite white, her eyes glittering.
From The History of David Grieve by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
