dare

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

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: Dair; dear, deer (both cheer–chair merger)

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.

   No one dares (to) criticize his decisions.

   • 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.

   • 1980, “Double Dare”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus, Track 1:

     Don't back away just yet / From destinations set / I dare you to be proud / To dare to shout aloud / For convictions that you feel / Like sound from bells to peal

2. (transitive) To defy or challenge (someone to do something).

   I dare you to kiss that girl.

   • 1980, “Double Dare”, in In the Flat Field, performed by Bauhaus, Track 1:

     Don't back away just yet / From destinations set / I dare you to be proud / To dare to shout aloud / For convictions that you feel / Like sound from bells to peal

   • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 9:26 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 November 2024:

     Particular note, in this period, should be made of the actions of Joseph Denman, commander of the Northern Division of the Squadron, who went on an absolutely ruthless and systematic campaign along the African coast, burning so-called "slaving factories" to the ground and openly daring anyone who objected to try and stop him.

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. (archaic, transitive) To drive larks to the ground by scaring them (for instance, with mirrors or hawks) so they can be caught in nets.
   • 1516, John Skelton, Magnificence, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 35:

     I have an hobby can make larks to dare

   • 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

   • 1815, Church of England, Sermons: Or, Homilies, page 210:

     How, think you, would that godly prince (if he were now living) handle our idols, set up against God's commandment directly, and being figures of nothing but folly, and for fools to gaze on, till they become as wise as the blocks themselves which they stare on, and so fall down as dared larks in that gaze, and being themselves alive, worship a dead stock or stone, gold or silver, and so become idolaters […]

• 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.

   I did it just for a dare.

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, volume (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 (date written), 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 daren, 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

• Hyphenation: da‧re

dare

1. (music) tambourine

• “dare”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• IPA^(key): [ˈdarɛ]

dare

1. vocative singular of dar

• IPA^(key): /daʁ/

• Audio:

  (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 [with del] [with al]

   il bue che dà del cornuto all'asino ― the pot calling the kettle black (literally, “the ox calling the donkey horned”)

   dare del tu ― to thou

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

• It is customary to write a grave accent on some forms of the indicative present, to distinguish them from homographs:
  • compulsory dò (I give), contrasting with do (C musical note)
  • rarely dài (you give), contrasting with dai (from the)
  • compulsory dà (he/she/it gives), contrasting with da (from)
  • rarely dànno (they give), contrasting with danno (damage)
• The imperative forms of the second-person singular are compounded with pronouns as follows:
  • da' + ci → dacci
    • ... + lo → daccelo
    • ... + la → dacceli
    • ... + le → daccele
    • ... + ne → daccene
  • da' + gli → dagli
  • da' + gli/le + la → dagliela
  • da' + gli/le + le → dagliele
  • da' + gli/le + li → daglieli
  • da' + gli/le + lo → daglielo
  • da' + gli/le + ne → dagliene
  • da' + le → dalle
  • da' + mi → dammi
    • ... + lo → dammelo
    • ... + la → dammeli
    • ... + le → dammele
    • ... + ne → dammene

Including lesser-used forms:

dare m (plural dari)

1. debit

• arde, rade, reda

dare

1. Rōmaji transcription of だれ

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈda.rɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈd̪aː.re]

dare

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

From Latin dare, 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, anatomy) belly, stomach

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɑ.re/

dare

1. inflection of daru:
   1. nominative plural
   2. accusative singular/plural
   3. genitive/dative singular

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

• [2]

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^[3], Pacific linguistics

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

dare

1. tree