Dare

Dare (dâr) , intransitive verb

[Old English I dar, dear, I dare, imp. dorste, durste, Anglo-Saxon ic dear I dare, imp. dorste. inf. durran; akin to Old Saxon gidar, gidorsta, gidurran, Old High German tar, torsta, turran, Gothic gadar, gadaúrsta, Greek tharsei^n, tharrei^n, to be bold, tharsy`s bold, Sanskrit Dhrsh to be bold. r70.]

To have adequate or sufficient courage for any purpose; to be bold or venturesome; not to be afraid; to venture.

I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. — Shakespeare

Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Bacause they durst not, because they could not. — Macaulay

Who dared to sully her sweet love with suspicion. — Thackeray

The tie of party was stronger than the tie of blood, because a partisan was more ready to dare without asking why. — Jowett (Thucyd.)

The pore dar plede (the poor man dare plead). — P. Plowman

You know one dare not discover you. — Dryden

The fellow dares not deceive me. — Shakespeare

Here boldly spread thy hands, no venom'd weed Dares blister them, no slimy snail dare creep. — Beau. & Fl

The present tense, I dare, is really an old past tense, so that the third person is he dare, but the form he dares is now often used, and will probably displace the obsolescent he dare, through grammatically as incorrect as he shalls or he cans.

Formerly durst was also used as the present. Sometimes the old form dare is found for durst or dared.

Dare , transitive verb

To have courage for; to attempt courageously; to venture to do or to undertake.

What high concentration of steady feeling makes men dare every thing and do anything? — Bagehot

To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes. — The Century

To challenge; to provoke; to defy.

Time, I dare thee to discover Such a youth and such a lover. — Dryden

Dare , noun

The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash. [Rare]

It lends a luster... A large dare to our great enterprise. — Shakespeare

Defiance; challenge.

Childish, unworthy dares Are not enought to part our powers. — Chapman

Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Casar. — Shakespeare

Dare , intransitive verb

[Old English darien, to lie hidden, be timid.]

To lurk; to lie hid. [Obsolete] — Chaucer

Dare , transitive verb

To terrify; to daunt. [Obsolete]

For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman. — Beau. & Fl

Collocations (1)

To dare larks , to catch them by producing terror through to use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them. — Nares

Dare , noun

[See Dace.]

(Zoology) A small fish; the dace.