esmerar

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”), from Latin ex merēre.

• IPA^(key): [esmeˈɾaɾ]

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmerei, past participle esmerado)

1. (transitive) to clean, purify
   • c. 1300, R. Martínez López, editor, General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV, Oviedo: Archivum, page 271:

     cõmo faz a lyma ao ferro, et a fornaz ao ouro que o purga et esmera et o faz puro et paresçe mellor, et cõmo faz outrosi o máále áá messe que a degrana em çeueyra et parte a palla do graão que e o mellor

     as the file does to iron, and the furnace to gold, that purges and cleans it and makes it pure and looks better; and also as the flail does to the harvest, that threshes it into sustenance and parts the straw and the grain, which is the best part

2. (pronominal) to work with effort and dedication

• esmerado
• esmero

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “esmerar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “esmer”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “esmerar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “esmerar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “esmerar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

From Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”), from Latin ex merēre. Compare Spanish esmerar.

• Hyphenation: es‧me‧rar

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmerei, past participle esmerado)

1. to hone (to refine or master a skill)

   Synonyms: aperfeiçoar, apurar

• esmero

• “esmerar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “esmerar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”).

• IPA^(key): /esmeˈɾaɾ/ [ez.meˈɾaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: es‧me‧rar

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmeré, past participle esmerado)

1. (transitive) to clean

   Synonyms: pulir, limpiar, ilustrar

2. (pronominal) to hone, to painstakingly do something

• “esmerar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024