Word Direct Answers

What does "dare" mean?

Dare: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To challenge; to provoke; to defy. Time, I dare thee to discover Such a youth and such a lover. Dryden.
  2. 3.The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash. [R.] It lends a luster . . . A large dare to our great enterprise. Shak.
  3. 4.Defiance; challenge. Childish, unworthy dares Are not enought to part our powers. Chapman. Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Cæsar. Shak.
  4. 5.To lurk; to lie hid. [Obs.] Chaucer.
  5. 6.To terrify; to daunt. [Obs.] For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman. Beau. & Fl. 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.
  6. 7.A small fish; the dace.

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