Sear
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
sear¹
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ UK
- /sɪː(ɹ)/ British, Southern, Standard
- /sɪɹ/ Canada, US
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ Australia
- /siə̯(ɹ)/ New Zealand
Sounds like cere, seer, sere · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English sere, seer, seere, from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, sere, sear, withered, barren”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ews- (“dry, parched”) (also reconstructed as *h₂sews-).
Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry, rough”), Low German soor (“dry”), German sohr (“parched, dried up”), dialectal Norwegian søyr (“the desiccation and death of a tree”), Lithuanian saũsas (“dry”), Ukrainian сухий (suxyj, “dry”), Polish suchy (“dry”), Homeric Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”). Doublet of sere and sare.
adjective searer · more sear · searest · most sear · sere · sare
- Dry; withered, especially of vegetation. There are in all but three vvayes of going thither [to the moon]. […] [The] third, Old Empedocles vvay; vvho vvhen he leaped into Ætna, having a drie ſeare bodie, and light, the ſmoake took him and vvhift him up into the Moone, vvhere he lives yet vvaving up and dovvne like a feather, all foot and e
sear²
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ UK
- /sɪː(ɹ)/ British, Southern, Standard
- /sɪɹ/ Canada, US
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ Australia
- /siə̯(ɹ)/ New Zealand
Sounds like cere, seer, sere · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English seren, seeren, from Old English sēarian (“to become sere, to grow sear, wither, pine away”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀēn (“to dry out, become dry”); compare also Proto-Germanic *sauzijaną (“to make dry”). Related to Old High German sōrēn (“to wither, wilt”). See Etymology 1 for more cognates. The use in firearms terminology may relate to French serrer (“to grip”).
verb sears · searing · seared · sere · sare
- To char, scorch, or burn the surface of (something) with a hot instrument. He likes to sear his steaks while maintaining rareness at the center.
- To wither; to dry up. The drought was so severe as to sear the grass and the leaves of maple trees which had grown well for two years, standing in sward land by the roadside, and yet the corn, within ten feet, on the subsoiled land, did not roll once in the whole season, even at mid-day, and there was scarcely another pi
- To make callous or insensible.
- To mark permanently, as if by burning. The events of that day were seared into her memory.
noun sears · sere · sare
- A scar produced by searing
sear³
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ UK
- /sɪː(ɹ)/ British, Southern, Standard
- /sɪɹ/ Canada, US
- /sɪə̯(ɹ)/ Australia
- /siə̯(ɹ)/ New Zealand
Sounds like cere, seer, sere · Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Possibly from Old French serre (“claw, talon, grasp”)
noun sears · sere · sare
- Part of a gun that retards the hammer until the trigger is pulled.
Sear⁴
Where it comes from
Variant of Sayer.
proper noun Sears
- A surname.
