different between lair vs mair

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /l???/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: layer (one pronunciation)

Etymology 1

From Middle English leir, leire, lair, lare, from Old English le?er (“couch, bed”), from Proto-Germanic *legr?, from Proto-Indo-European *leg?-.

Noun

lair (plural lairs)

1. A place inhabited by a wild animal, often a cave or a hole in the ground.
2. A shed or shelter for domestic animals.
3. (figuratively) A place inhabited by a criminal or criminals, a superhero or a supervillain; a refuge, retreat, haven or hideaway.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     ...Van Helsing stood up and said, "Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lair. Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?"

4. (Britain dialectal) A bed or resting place.
5. (Scotland) A grave; a cemetery plot. [from c. 1420]

Synonyms

• (of an animal): burrow (of some smaller mammals), den (of a lion or tiger), holt (of an otter)
• (of a criminal): den, hide-out

Derived terms

• (grave): lair-stone (“tombstone”)

Translations

Verb

lair (third-person singular simple present lairs, present participle lairing, simple past and past participle laired)

1. (Britain) To rest; to dwell.
2. (Britain) To lay down.
3. (Britain) To bury.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse leir (“clay, mud”). Compare Icelandic leir (“clay”).

Noun

lair (plural lairs)

1. (Scotland) A bog; a mire.

Verb

lair (third-person singular simple present lairs, present participle lairing, simple past and past participle laired)

1. (transitive, Scotland) To mire.
2. (intransitive, Scotland) To become mired.

Etymology 3

Backformation from lairy.

Noun

lair (plural lairs)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A person who dresses in a showy but tasteless manner and behaves in a vulgar and conceited way; a show-off.

References

• Wright, Joseph (1902) The English Dialect Dictionary?^[3], volume 3, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 505–506
• “lair” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Anagrams

• aril, lari, liar, lira, rail, rial

Manx

Noun

lair f

1. Alternative form of laair

Scots

Etymology

From Old English l?r (“instruction”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?lair/
• Rhymes: -er

Noun

lair (plural lairs)

1. lore
   • "Ower mony a fair-farrant an rare beuk o precious lair" (second line of "The Raven" translated into Scots).

English

Etymology

From Middle English mair, mare, from Old English m?ra (“more”), from Proto-Germanic *maizô. More at more.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Geordie) IPA^(key): /m??/

Adjective

mair (not comparable)

1. (Tyneside) more

Adverb

mair (not comparable)

1. (Tyneside) more

Anagrams

• Amir, Irma, Mari, Mira, RIMA, amir, raim, rami, rima

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish maraid, mairid (“persist, remain alive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?a??/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /m????/ (as if spelled moir)

Verb

mair (present analytic maireann, future analytic mairfidh, verbal noun maireachtáil, past participle mairthe)

1. live, remain, survive

2. last (“endure, hold out, continue”)
   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, vol. II, p. 199:

     m???? n w?n d?? kai??š el?.

     conventional orthography: Mairfidh an mhóin dúinn coicís eile.

     The turf will last us another fortnight.

Conjugation

Alternative verbal nouns: maireachtaint, mairstean

Derived terms

• maireachtáil (“living (noun)”)
• go maire tú an lá (“happy birthday”)

Mutation

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish mér, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mh??rós.

Noun

mair f (genitive singular mair, plural meir)

1. (anatomy) finger, digit
2. prong
3. key (of piano)
4. hand (of clock)
5. tributary (of river)

Derived terms

Mutation

Occitan

Noun

mair f (plural mairs)

1. (Gascony) mother
2. (Gascony) riverbed

References

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me?r/

Etymology 1

From northern Middle English mare, from Old English m?ra (compare English more), from Proto-Germanic *maizô.

Adjective

mair (not comparable)

1. bigger, greater

Adverb

mair (not comparable)

1. more

Derived terms

• mair by taiken
• mair oot ower
• the mair

Related terms

• mae

Etymology 2

From Middle English meyr, from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”).

Noun

mair (plural mairs)

1. (archaic) mayor

Derived terms

• mair o fee
• mairship
• shirra-mair

Etymology 3

From Old English m?r.

Alternative forms

• muir

Noun

mair (plural mairs)

1. (South Scots) moor

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish maraid, mairid (“persist, remain alive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma??/

Verb

mair (past mhair, future mairidh, verbal noun mairsinn or maireann or maireachdainn, past participle mairte)

1. last, continue

Synonyms

• seas

Derived terms

• maireannach
• nach maireann