mire

Meanings

Noun

• Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
• An undesirable situation, a predicament.
• An ant.

Verb

• To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
• To sink into mud.
• To weigh down.
• To soil with mud or foul matter.

Origin

• From Middle English mire, a borrowing from Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Norwegian myr, Icelandic mýri, Dutch (in placenames, for example Mierlo). Related to Proto-Germanic *meusą, whence Old English mēos, and Proto-Germanic *musą, whence Old English mos (English moss).
• From Middle English mire, from Old English *mȳre, *mīere, from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ. Cognate to Old Norse maurr, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere (Dutch mier). All probably from Proto-Indo-European *morwi-, whence also cognate to Latin formīca.