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Definition mere

Etymology 1

From Middle English mere, from Old English mere (“the sea; mere, lake”), from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognate with West Frisian mar, Dutch meer, Low German meer, Meer, German Meer, Norwegian mar (only used in combinations, such as marbakke). Related to Latin mare, Breton mor, Russian ????? (móre).

Noun

mere (plural meres)

1. (dialectal or literary) A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond. More specifically, it can refer to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth. Also included in place names such as Windermere.

Etymology 2

From Middle English mere, from Old English m?re, ?em?re (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairij? (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”). Cognate with Dutch meer (“a limit, boundary”), Icelandic mærr (“borderland”), Swedish landamäre (“border, borderline, boundary”).

Noun

mere (plural meres)

1. Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.

Verb

mere (third-person singular simple present meres, present participle mering, simple past and past participle mered)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
3. (cartography) To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.

Etymology 3

From Middle English mere, from Old English m?re (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-Germanic *m?rijaz, *m?raz (“excellent, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *m?ros (“large, handsome”). Cognate with Middle High German mære (“famous”), Icelandic mærr (“famous”), and German Mär, Märchen ("fairy tale").

Adjective

mere (comparative more mere, superlative most mere)

1. (obsolete) Famous.

Etymology 4

From Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus. Perhaps influenced by Old English m?re (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), or conflated with Etymology 3.

Adjective

mere (comparative merer, superlative merest)

1. (obsolete) Pure, unalloyed [8-17c.].
2. (obsolete) Nothing less than; complete, downright [15-18c.].
3. Just, only; no more than [from 16c.], pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.