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dare

Pronunciation: /dɛə/

The English word “dare” has 12 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To have enough courage (to do something).
  2. To defy or challenge (someone to do something).
  3. To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to.
  4. To terrify; to daunt.
  5. To drive larks to the ground by scaring them (for instance, with mirrors or hawks) so they can be caught in nets.
  6. To stare stupidly or vacantly; to gaze as though amazed or terrified.
  7. To lie or crouch down in fear.

noun

  1. A challenge to prove courage.
  2. The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness.
  3. Defiance; challenge.
  4. In the game truth or dare, the choice to perform a dare set by the other players.
  5. A small fish, the dace

Etymology

From Middle English durren, from Old English durran, from Proto-West Germanic *durʀan, from Proto-Germanic *durzaną (“to dare”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰedʰórse (“to dare”), reduplicated stative of the root *dʰers- (“to be bold, to dare”), an *-s- extension of *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). Cognates Cognate with Low German dören, Dutch durven, German thüren, Sanskrit दधर्ष (dadhárṣa), but also…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.