dare

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɛə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɛ(ə)ɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

From Middle English durren, from Old English durran, from Proto-West Germanic *durʀan, from Proto-Germanic *durzaną (“to dare”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰedʰórse (“to dare”), reduplicated stative of the root *dʰers- (“to be bold, to dare”), an *-s- extension of *dʰer- (“to hold, support”).

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

1. (intransitive) To have enough courage (to do something).

   I wouldn't dare (to) argue with my boss.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     The fellow dares not deceive me.

   • 1832, Thomas Macaulay, Parliamentary Reform:

     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?

   • 1886, Clarence King, The Century:

     To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes.

4. (transitive) To terrify; to daunt.
   • c. 1608–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Maid’s Tragedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:

     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.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     dare us, like larks

• Dare is a semimodal verb. When used as an auxiliary, the speaker can choose whether to use do-support and the auxiliary "to" when forming negative and interrogative sentences. For example, "I don't dare (to) go", "I dare not go", "I didn't dare (to) go", and "I dared not go" are all correct. Similarly "Dare you go?", "Do you dare (to) go?", "Dared you go?", and "Did you dare (to) go?" are all correct. When not an auxiliary verb, it is different: "I dared him to do it." usually is not written as "I dared him do it.", and "Did you dare him to do it?" is almost never written as "Dared you him do it?"
• 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". According to the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, "daren’t" is used occasionally in ordinary past time contexts (Kim daren’t tell them so I had to do it myself).
• Rare regional forms dassn't and dasn't also exist 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 first half of the 19th century it was overtaken by dared, which has been markedly more common ever since.

• Appendix:English modal verbs

dare (plural dares)

1. A challenge to prove courage.
2. The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     It lends a lustre […] / A large dare to our great enterprise.

3. Defiance; challenge.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volumes (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

     Childish, unworthy dares / Are not enough to part our powers.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Sextus Pompeius / Hath given the dare to Caesar.

4. (games) In the game truth or dare, the choice to perform a dare set by the other players.

   When asked truth or dare, she picked dare.

• dairous
• dareful

From Middle English, from Old English darian.

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. [16^thc.]
2. (obsolete) To lie or crouch down in fear. [16^thc.]

dare (plural dares)

1. A small fish, the dace[1]
   • 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.

• 'eard, Dear, Rade, Read, Reda, ared, dear, rade, read

dare

1. (music) tambourine

• IPA^(key): [ˈdarɛ]

dare

1. vocative singular of dar

• IPA^(key): /daʁ/

• (file)

dare

1. quick

• dare-dare

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈda.re/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: dà‧re

dàre (first-person singular present (with syntactic gemination after the verb) dò, first-person singular past historic dièdi or diédi or détti or (traditional) dètti, past participle dàto, first-person singular future darò, first-person singular subjunctive dìa, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive déssi, second-person singular imperative dài or dà', auxiliary avére) (transitive)

1. to give (to transfer the possession/holding of something to someone else)
2. to yield, to bear, to produce, to return
3. (ditransitive) to name, to call, to refer to [+ del (object)] [+ al (object)]

   Il bue che dà del cornuto all’asino ― The ox who calls the donkey horned

4. (transitive, vulgar, slang) chiefly in the form "darla": acquiesce to a sexual intercourse

• The imperative forms of the second-person singular are compounded with pronouns as follows:
  • dà + ci → dacci
  • dà + gli → dagli
  • dà + gli/le + la → dagliela
  • dà + gli/le + le → dagliele
  • dà + gli/le + li → daglieli
  • dà + gli/le + lo → daglielo
  • dà + le → dalle
  • dà + mi → dammi

Including lesser-used forms:

dare m (plural dari)

1. debit

• arde, rade, reda

dare

1. Rōmaji transcription of だれ

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈda.re/, [ˈd̪ärɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈda.re/, [ˈd̪äːre]

dare

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

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

dare

1. to give

• AEDLL

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

dare ? (plural dares)

1. (continental Normandy, anatomy) belly, stomach

• ventre (Jersey, Guernsey), vãtr (Sark)

From da +‎ -re.

dare f (plural dări)

1. giving
2. tax

dare (Cyrillic spelling даре)

1. vocative singular of dȃr

• IPA^(key): [ˈdare]

dare m

1. locative singular of dar

From Latin dare.

dare

1. to give

May be related to Ternate doro.

• IPA^(key): /ˈd̪a.re/

dare

1. (transitive) to fall (from a height)

• James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎, Pacific linguistics

• IPA^(key): /dɑˈɾə/
• Hyphenation: da‧re

dare

1. tree