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Sire vs Mire - What's the difference?

sire | mire |

In obsolete terms the difference between sire and mire

is that sire is a creator; a maker; an author; an originator while mire is an ant.

As nouns the difference between sire and mire

is that sire is a lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign while mire is deep mud; moist, spongy earth.

As verbs the difference between sire and mire

is that sire is of a male: to procreate; to father, beget while mire is to weigh down.

sire

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign.
  • A male animal; a stud, especially a horse or dog, that has fathered another.
  • (obsolete) A father; the head of a family; the husband.
  • * Shakespeare
    • And raise his issue, like a loving sire .
  • (obsolete) A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
  • * Shelley
    • [He] was the sire of an immortal strain.

    Verb

    (sir)
  • Of a male: to procreate; to father, beget.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 6:
    • In these travels, my father sired thirteen children in all, four boys and nine girls.

    Anagrams

    * ----

    mire

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) , whence Old English mos (English moss).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
  • * When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was invisible to all eyes but Prospero’s) would come slyly and pinch him, and sometimes tumble him down in the mire .'' (, ''Tales from Shakespeare , Hatier, coll. « Les Classiques pour tous » n° 223, p. 51)
  • An undesirable situation, a predicament.
    • Synonyms
    * (deep mud) peatland, quag
    Hypernyms
    * (deep mud) wetland
    Hyponyms
    * (deep mud) bog, fen
    Derived terms
    * mire crow * mire drum * miry * in the mire * quagmire

    Verb

    (mir)
  • To weigh down.
  • To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
    • to mire a horse or wagon
  • To soil with mud or foul matter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Smirched thus and mired with infamy.

    Etymology 2

    Perhaps related to Middle Dutch miere (Dutch mier). Cognate with Old Norse maurr, Danish myre. All probably from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An ant.

    • Anagrams

    * ----