SIRE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sire mean? 

• SIRE (noun)
  The noun SIRE has 3 senses:

1. a title of address formerly used for a man of rank and authority

2. the founder of a family

3. male parent of an animal especially a domestic animal such as a horse

  Familiarity information: SIRE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SIRE (verb)
  The verb SIRE has 1 sense:

1. make (offspring) by reproduction

  Familiarity information: SIRE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIRE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A title of address formerly used for a man of rank and authority

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("sire" is a kind of...):

Lord; noble; nobleman (a titled peer of the realm)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The founder of a family

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

father; forefather; sire

Context example:

keep the faith of our forefathers

Hypernyms ("sire" is a kind of...):

ancestor; antecedent; ascendant; ascendent; root (someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sire"):

patriarch (any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race)

Derivation:

sire (make (offspring) by reproduction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Male parent of an animal especially a domestic animal such as a horse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("sire" is a kind of...):

male (an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova))

Derivation:

sire (make (offspring) by reproduction)

• SIRE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sire    ... he / she / it sires   
Past simple: sired   
Past participle: sired   
-ing form: siring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make (offspring) by reproduction

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

beget; bring forth; engender; father; generate; get; mother; sire

Context example:

John fathered four daughters

Hypernyms (to "sire" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

sire (male parent of an animal especially a domestic animal such as a horse)

sire (the founder of a family)

 Context examples 

“Not I, sire,” Lord Audley answered.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This entirely softens the stern sire.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They are a free company, sire, and they are called the White Company.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With wonderful presence of mind, Don Pedro, the cruel sire, rushed in, dragged out his daughter, with a hasty aside...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It would ill become my gracious master, sire, to go back from promise given.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She also defied her sire, and he ordered them both to the deepest dungeons of the castle.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Not a word, sire, not a word!” cried the prince.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For Demi inherited a trifle of his sire's firmness of character, we won't call it obstinacy, and when he made up his little mind to have or to do anything, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not change that pertinacious little mind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Shall I order that the nakirs sound, sire?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because, sire, it is not for you to take part with Gascons against English, or with English against Gascons, seeing that you are lord of both.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)