sire

From Middle English sire, from Old French sire, the nominative singular of seignor; from Latin senior, from senex. Doublet of senior, seigneur, seignior, sir, and monsieur.

• IPA^(key): /saɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

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As King of England, William III would be addressed as Your Majesty or sire.

Darley Arabian, one of the foundation sires of the thoroughbred breed of horse.

sire (plural sires)

1. 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.
2. A male animal that has fathered a particular offspring (especially used of domestic animals and/or in biological research).
3. (obsolete) A father; the head of a family; the husband.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     And raise his issue, like a loving sire.

4. (obsolete) A creator; a maker; an author; an originator.
   • 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 8:

     Most musical of mourners, weep again! / Lament anew, Urania!—He died, / Who was the sire of an immortal strain, […]

• (male animal): dam

sire (third-person singular simple present sires, present participle siring, simple past and past participle sired)

1. (transitive, of a male) to father; to beget.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, published 2010, page 6:

     In these travels, my father sired thirteen children in all, four boys and nine girls.

• EIRs, Eris, Iser, SIer, Seri, eirs, ires, reis, rise

From German zieren.

sire

1. (archaic) adorn
2. (archaic, by extension, especially in the passive participle) endow with a favorable quality

• vansire

• “sire” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

From Old French sire (nominative form), from Vulgar Latin *seior (used as a term of address), a contracted form of Latin senior (compare French seigneur, derived from the accusative form), perhaps influenced by maior. Doublet of seigneur, senior, and sieur.

• IPA^(key): /siʁ/
• Rhymes: -iʁ
• Homophones: cire, cirent, cires, sires

sire m (plural sires)

1. (obsolete) sire (term of respect) (Still used in at least partly French-speaking kingdoms such as Belgium or Canada as a form of address to the sovereign)
2. (obsolete) lord

• triste sire

• monsieur
• seigneur

• “sire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• ries

Borrowed from Old French sire. See also sere. Doublet of signore.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.re/
• Rhymes: -ire
• Hyphenation: sì‧re

sire m (invariable)

1. king, monarch (only when addressing a sovereign)

   Synonyms: re, sovrano, monarca, maestà

• Eris, IRES, ersi, resi, rise, seri

• sir, sirre, syre, syr, seere, ser, sure, sore
• ẜ

From Old French sire, nominative singular of seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of senyour.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːr(ə)/, /ˈsir(ə)/, /ˈsɛr(ə)/

sire (plural sires)

1. Used preceding the name or title of a knight, noble, or cleric.
2. A respectful term of address for a noble or gentleman.
3. A noble or lord; one of high station.
4. A husband as the head of a household.
5. A father as one's progenitor.

• English: sir; sire
• Scots: sir; sire

• “sī̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiɾə/

sire m

1. nominative singular of sieur

sire

1. locative singular of siras

From French sire.

sire m (uncountable)

1. sire

sire (Cyrillic spelling сире)

1. third-person plural present of siriti

sire

1. accusative plural of sir