ware
1[ wair ]
/ wɛər /
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noun
Usually wares .
- articles of merchandise or manufacture; goods: a peddler selling his wares.
- any intangible items, as services or products of artistic or intellectual creativity, that are salable: an actor advertising his wares.
a specified kind or class of merchandise or of manufactured article (usually used in combination): silverware;glassware.See also -ware.
pottery, or a particular kind of pottery: delft ware.
Archaeology. a group of ceramic types classified according to paste and texture, surface modification, as burnish or glaze, and decorative motifs rather than shape and color.
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Origin of ware
1First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English waru; cognate with German Ware
Other definitions for ware (2 of 5)
ware2
[ wair ]
/ wɛər /
adjective
verb (used with object), wared, war·ing.
to beware of (usually used in the imperative).
Origin of ware
2First recorded before 900; Middle English adjective; Old English adjective wær; cognate with German gewahr “aware,” Old Norse varr “aware”
Other definitions for ware (3 of 5)
ware3
[ wair ]
/ wɛər /
verb (used with object), wared, war·ing.Scot. and North England.
to spend; expend.
Origin of ware
3First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse verja “to spend, invest”
Other definitions for ware (4 of 5)
Origin of ware
4First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old Norse vār “spring”; perhaps akin to Latin vēr, Greek éar “spring”; see vernal
Other definitions for ware (5 of 5)
-ware
a combining form extracted from software, occurring as the final element in words that refer to a specified kind or class of software: spyware;shareware.See also ware1 (def. 2).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ware in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for ware (1 of 3)
ware1
/ (wɛə) /
noun (often in combination)
(functioning as singular) articles of the same kind or materialglassware; silverware
porcelain or pottery of a specified typeagateware; jasper ware
See also wares
Word Origin for ware
Old English waru; related to Old Frisian were, Old Norse vara, Middle Dutch Ware
British Dictionary definitions for ware (2 of 3)
Word Origin for ware
Old English wær; related to Old Saxon, Old High German giwar, Old Norse varr, Gothic war, Latin vereor. See aware, beware
British Dictionary definitions for ware (3 of 3)
ware3
/ (wɛə) /
verb
(tr) Northern English and British dialect to spend or squander
Word Origin for ware
C15: of Scandinavian origin; related to Icelandic verja
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Scientific definitions for ware
-ware
A suffix that means software, as in shareware.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.