Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Agile; lively.
  • adjective Nautical Responding easily; maneuverable. Used of a vessel.
  • adjective Archaic Ready; prepared.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Ready; prepared.
  • Prompt; active; brisk; sprightly.
  • Easily wrought; answering quickly to the helm; manageable; swift: said of a ship.
  • See yar.
  • Briskly; dexterously; yarely.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Ready; dexterous; eager; lively; quick to move.
  • adverb obsolete Soon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective archaic Ready; prepared.
  • adjective Ready, alert, prepared, prompt.
  • adjective Eager, keen, lively, handy; agile, nimble.
  • adjective nautical, of a ship Easily manageable and answering readily to the helm; yar.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English gearo, ready.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English yare, ȝare, from Old English ġearu ("prepared, ready, prompt, equipped, complete, finished, yare"), from Proto-Germanic *garwaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ-, *gʰerbʰ- (“to grab, take, rake”). Cognate with Dutch gaar ("done, dressed, ready"), German gar ("ready, complete"), Icelandic görr, gerr ("perfect").

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Examples

  • A little background study into the word "fear," the Hebrew word yare, will reveal that it means, "to be afraid" [and] "to stand in awe" (

    Apprising Ministries 2009

  • However, there is another aspect of this word yare as in "to be afraid" of.

    Apprising Ministries 2009

  • Hit them first you already know the yare going to opose it.

    Trippi: GOP trying to turn Obama into another Jimmy Carter 2009

  • The yare also looking for tools and strategies that might improve their own digital surveillance.

    Repressing the Internet, Western-Style Evgeny Morozov 2011

  • Borumoter first took his gage at lil lolly lavvander waader since when capriole legs covets limbs of a crane and was it the twylyd or the mounth of the yare or the feint of her smell made the seo-men assalt of her (in imageascene all: whimwhim whimwhim).

    Finnegans Wake 2006

  • NAMA ashi miwaku no MAAMEIDO dasu toko dashite tawawa ni nattara houmono no koi wa yare soukai

    thewhat Diary Entry thewhat 2005

  • We had our first full day of patients yesterday and I'm happy to report that my ship is yare.

    Archive 2003-10-01 2003

  • We had our first full day of patients yesterday and I'm happy to report that my ship is yare.

    Medpundit 2003

  • I do desire to learn, sir: and I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare; for truly, sir, for your kindness I owe you

    Measure for Measure 2004

  • The yare wrong, just like people who think that believing in God means that you have to hate liberals.

    Philocrites: Back to the reverence debate! 2004

Comments

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  • characterized by speed and agility; nimble, lively, handy, maneuverable

    archaic: set for action

    Etymology: Middle English, from Old English gearu; akin to Old High German garo ready

    Date: before 12th century

    She's a right yarely ship, she is.

    October 31, 2007

  • This word's most popular usage in the 20th Century may have been three times in the movie "Philadelphia Story," in reference to a boat and to the heroine of the movie, as in this dialogue by characters played by Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant:

    Tracy Lord: Oh Dexter you're not doing it just to soften the blow?

    C. K. Dexter Haven: No.

    Tracy Lord: Nor to save my face?

    C. K. Dexter Haven: Oh, it's a nice little face.

    Tracy Lord: Oh Dexter, I'll be yare now, I promise to be yare.

    C. K. Dexter Haven: Be whatever you like, you're my redhead.

    The script had previously set the stage for this exchange by using yare in reference to a boat the two erstwhile (in the original, precise definition) lovers had enjoyed.

    July 5, 2009