hare

[hair] /hɛər/
noun, plural hares (especially collectively) hare.
1.
any rodentlike mammal of the genus Lepus, of the family Leporidae, having long ears, a divided upper lip, and long hind limbs adapted for leaping.
2.
any of the larger species of this genus, as distinguished from certain of the smaller ones known as rabbits.
3.
any of various similar animals of the same family.
4.
(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Lepus.
5.
the player pursued in the game of hare and hounds.
verb (used without object), hared, haring.
6.
Chiefly British. to run fast.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English hara; cognate with Danish hare; akin to German Hase hare, Old English hasu gray
Related forms
harelike, adjective
Can be confused
hair, hare.
Examples from the web for hare
  • It may be a better time to consolidate than to hare off in new directions.
  • The aptly named snowshoe hare has particularly large feet and a winter-white coat.
  • In the fable, the tortoise wins the race because the hare takes a nap.
  • Cheating in sports might be as old as the race between the tortoise and the hare.
  • Yet its first choice of food is always the snowshoe hare.
  • When the hare population is low, there is trouble for the cats.
  • It is the hare to the good bacteria's tortoise, a weed in the plowed field.
  • We might as well argue that a tortoise would never race a hare in nature.
  • Snowshoe hare populations fluctuate cyclically about once a decade-possibly because of disease.
  • When hare populations are low, in fact, scientists have seen that some picky lynx starve rather than switch foods.
British Dictionary definitions for hare

hare

/hɛə/
noun (pl) hares, hare
1.
any solitary leporid mammal of the genus Lepus, such as L. europaeus (European hare). Hares are larger than rabbits, having longer ears and legs, and live in shallow nests (forms) related adjective leporine
2.
(Irish, informal) make a hare of someone, to defeat someone completely
3.
run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, to be on good terms with both sides
verb
4.
(intransitive; often foll by off, after, etc) (Brit, informal) to go or run fast or wildly
Derived Forms
harelike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English hara; related to Old Norse heri, Old High German haso, Swedish hare, Sanskrit śaśá

Hare1

/hɛə/
noun
1.
Sir David. born 1947, British dramatist and theatre director: his plays include Plenty (1978), Pravda (with Howard Brenton, 1985), The Secret Rapture (1989), Racing Demon (1990), The Permanent Way (2003), and Stuff Happens (2004)
2.
William. 19th century, Irish murderer and bodysnatcher: associate of William Burke

Hare2

/hɛə/
noun
1.
a member of a Dene Native Canadian people of northern Canada
Word Origin
of Athapascan origin
Word Origin and History for hare
n.

Old English hara "hare," from West Germanic *hasan- (cf. Old Frisian hasa, Middle Dutch haese, Dutch haas, Old High German haso, German Hase), possibly with a sense of "gray" (cf. Old English hasu, Old High German hasan "gray"), from PIE *kas- "gray" (cf. Latin canus "white, gray, gray-haired"). Perhaps cognate with Sanskrit sasah, Afghan soe, Welsh ceinach "hare." Rabbits burrow in the ground; hares do not. Hare-lip is from 1560s.

þou hast a crokyd tunge heldyng wyth hownd and wyth hare. ["Jacob's Well," c.1440]

v.

"to harry, harass," 1520s; meaning "to frighten" is 1650s; of uncertain origin; connections have been suggested to harry (v.) and to hare (n.). Related: Hared; haring.

hare in the Bible

(Heb. 'arnebeth) was prohibited as food according to the Mosaic law (Lev. 11:6; Deut. 14:7), "because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof." The habit of this animal is to grind its teeth and move its jaw as if it actually chewed the cud. But, like the cony (q.v.), it is not a ruminant with four stomachs, but a rodent like the squirrel, rat, etc. Moses speaks of it according to appearance. It is interdicted because, though apparently chewing the cud, it did not divide the hoof. There are two species in Syria, (1) the Lepus Syriacus or Syrian hare, which is like the English hare; and (2) the Lepus Sinaiticus, or hare of the desert. No rabbits are found in Syria.

Idioms and Phrases with hare

hare

see: