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Webster 1913 Edition

Dare

Dare

(dâr)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp.
Durst
(dûrst)
or
Dared
(dârd)
;
p. p.
Dared
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Daring
.]
[OE.
I dar
,
dear
, I dare, imp.
dorste
,
durste
, AS.
ic dear
I dare, imp.
dorste
. inf.
durran
; akin to OS.
gidar
,
gidorsta
,
gidurran
, OHG.
tar
,
torsta
,
turran
, Goth.
gadar
,
gadaúrsta
, Gr.
τηαρσεῖν
,
τηαρρεῖν
, to be bold,
τηαρσύσ
bold, Skr.
Dhrsh
to be bold. √70.]
To have adequate or sufficient courage for any purpose; to be bold or venturesome; not to be afraid; to venture.
I
dare
do all that may become a man; Who
dares
do more is none.
Shakespeare
Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Bacause they
durst
not, because they could not.
Macaulay.
Who
dared
to sully her sweet love with suspicion.
Thackeray.
The tie of party was stronger than the tie of blood, because a partisan was more ready to
dare
without asking why.
Jowett (Thu[GREEK]yd.).
☞ The present tense, I dare, is really an old past tense, so that the third person is he dare, but the form he dares is now often used, and will probably displace the obsolescent he dare, through grammatically as incorrect as he shalls or he cans.
Skeat.
The pore
dar
plede (the poor man
dare
plead).
P. Plowman.
You know one
dare
not discover you.
Dryden.
The fellow
dares
not deceive me.
Shakespeare
Here boldly spread thy hands, no venom’d weed
Dares
blister them, no slimy snail
dare
creep.
Beau. & Fl.
☞ Formerly durst was also used as the present. Sometimes the old form dare is found for durst or dared.

Dare

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dared
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Daring
.]
1.
To have courage for; to attempt courageously; to venture to do or to undertake.
What high concentration of steady feeling makes men
dare
every thing and do anything?
Bagehot.
To wrest it from barbarism, to
dare
its solitudes.
The Century.
2.
To challenge; to provoke; to defy.
Time, I
dare
thee to discover
Such a youth and such a lover.
Dryden.

Dare

,
Noun.
1.
The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash.
[R.]
It lends a luster . . .
A large
dare
to our great enterprise.
Shakespeare
2.
Defiance; challenge.
Childish, unworthy
dares

Are not enought to part our powers.
Chapman.
Sextus Pompeius
Hath given the
dare
to Cæsar.
Shakespeare

Dare

,
Verb.
I.
[OE.
darien
, to lie hidden, be timid.]
To lurk; to lie hid.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Dare

,
Verb.
T.
To terrify; to daunt.
[Obs.]
For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs,
Would
dare
a woman.
Beau. & Fl.
To dare larks
,
to catch them by producing terror through to use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them.
Nares.

Dare

,
Noun.
[See
Dace
.]
(Zool.)
A small fish; the dace.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dare

DARE

,
Verb.
I.
pret. durst. To have courage to any purpose; to have strength of mind or hardihood to undertake anything; to be bold enough; not to be afraid; to venture; to be adventurous.
I dare do all that may become a man. Shak.
Dare any of you go to law before the unjust? 1 Cor. vi
None of his disciples durst ask him, who art thou. John xxi
In this intransitive sense, dare is not generally followed by the sign to before another verb in the infinitive; though to may be used with propriety. In German, the verb is numbered among the auxiliaries. In the transitive form, it is regular; thus,

DARE

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. dared. To challenge; to provoke; to defy; as, to dare a man to fight.
Time, I dare thee to discover such a youth and such a lover. Dryden.
To dare larks, to catch them by means of a looking glass, or by keeping a bird of prey hovering aloft, which keeps them in amaze till caught; to terrify or amaze.

DARE

, Defiance; challenge.

DARE

,
Noun.
A small fish, the same as the dace.

Definition 2024

dare

dare

See also: DARE, daré, darė, darë, and dåre

English

Verb

dare ‎(third-person singular simple present dare or dares, present participle daring, simple past dared or (obsolete) durst, past participle dared)

  1. (intransitive) To have enough courage (to do something).
    I wouldn't dare argue with my boss.‎
    • Shakespeare
      The fellow dares not deceive me.
    • Macaulay
      Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Because they durst not, because they could not.
  2. (transitive) To defy or challenge (someone to do something)
    I dare you to kiss that girl.‎
  3. (transitive) To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to
    Will you dare death to reach your goal?
    • The Century
      To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes.
  4. (transitive) To terrify; to daunt.
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, / Would dare a woman.
  5. (transitive) To catch (larks) by producing terror through the use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)
Usage notes
  • Dare is a semimodal verb. The speaker can choose whether to use the auxiliary "to" when forming negative and interrogative sentences. For example, "I don't dare (to) go" and "I dare not go" are both correct. Similarly "Dare you go?" and "Do you dare (to) go?" are both correct.
  • In negative and interrogative sentences where "do" is not used, the third-person singular form of the verb is usually "dare" and not "dares": "Dare he go? He dare not go."
  • Colloquially, "dare not" can be contracted to "daren't". Rare regional forms dassn't and dasn't also exists in the present tense and archaic forms dursn't and durstn't in the past tense.
  • The expression dare say, used almost exclusively in the first-person singular and in the present tense, means "think probable". It is also spelt daresay.
  • Historically, the simple past of dare was durst. In the 1830s, it was overtaken by dared, which has been markedly more common ever since.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
  • Appendix:English modal verbs

Noun

dare ‎(plural dares)

  1. A challenge to prove courage.
  2. The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness.
    • Shakespeare
      It lends a lustre […] / A large dare to our great enterprise.
  3. Defiance; challenge.
    • Chapman
      Childish, unworthy dares / Are not enought to part our powers.
    • Shakespeare
      Sextus Pompeius / Hath given the dare to Caesar.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Old English darian.

Verb

dare ‎(third-person singular simple present dares, present participle daring, simple past and past participle dared)

  1. (obsolete) To stare stupidly or vacantly; to gaze as though amazed or terrified. [13th-16thc.]
  2. (obsolete) To lie or crouch down in fear. [13th-16thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Bk.XX, ch.xix:
      ‘Sir, here bene knyghtes com of kyngis blod that woll nat longe droupe and dare within thys wallys.’

Etymology 3

Noun

dare ‎(plural dares)

  1. A small fish, the dace.
    • 1766, Richard Brookes, The art of angling, rock and sea-fishing
      The Dare is not unlike a Chub, but proportionably less; his Body is more white and flatter, and his Tail more forked.

Anagrams

Crimean Tatar

Noun

dare

  1. (music) tambourine

Italian

Etymology

From Latin dare, present active infinitive of dō, from Proto-Italic *didō, from Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti, from the root *deh₃- ‎(“give”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdaː.re/, [ˈd̪äːre]
  • Rhymes: -are

Verb

dare

  1. (transitive) To give, to transfer the possession/holding of something to someone else.
  2. (transitive) To yield, to bear, to give, to produce, to return.

Conjugation

Usage notes

The imperative forms of the second-person singular are compounded with pronouns as follows:

Derived terms

Noun

dare m ‎(plural dari)

  1. debit

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

dare

  1. rōmaji reading of だれ

Latin

Verb

dare

  1. present active infinitive of dō
  2. second-person singular present passive imperative of dō

Norman

Noun

dare ? ‎(plural dares)

  1. (continental Normandy, anatomy) belly, stomach

Synonyms

Etymology

From Old English durran, from Proto-Germanic *durzaną, from Proto-Indo-European. Cognate with Low German dören, Dutch durven, but also with Ancient Greek θρασύς ‎(thrasús), Lithuanian drįsti, Russian дерза́ть ‎(derzátʹ).

Pronunciation

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