different between wair vs mair

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /w??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: ware, wear

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

wair (plural wairs)

1. A plank six feet long and one foot across.

Etymology 2

Verb

wair (third-person singular simple present wairs, present participle wairing, simple past and past participle waired)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) To spend.
   • 1826, Mungo Ponton Brown, Supplement to the Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, Volume 3, Edinburgh, page 569,

     […] they find there was no lesion to the minor by setting the said tack, and that the money waired out by the defender, in building and reparations, viz not only the ?1317 Scots first given out, but also the ?326 last waired by the defender, […]

   • 1831 [1566], John Knox, William McGavin (editor), The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 94,

     We shall maintain them, nourish them, and defend them, the whole congregation of Christ, and every member thereof, at our whole powers and wairing [spending] of our lives, against Satan, and all wicked power that does intend tyranny or trouble against the foresaid congregation.

   • 1841, William Alexander, An Abridgement of the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1424—1707, page 243,

     […] Reserving alwayes to the Sheriff or other Magistrates, and taker of the Thief, the expences waired out by them in taking and putting the Thief to execution.

Etymology 3

Verb

wair

1. Nonstandard form of were.
   • 1897, Henry Christopher McCook The Latimers: A Tale of the Western Insurrection of 1794, 2007, page 18,

     We didn't al'ays stay here, but wair on the wing here and thar where game was most plentiful, and often in company with the Mingoes, who wair our sworn fri'nds an' allies.

References

Anagrams

• Wari, iWar, wari

Gothic

Romanization

wair

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Sika

Noun

wair

1. water

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wai?r/

Noun

wair

1. Soft mutation of gwair.

Mutation

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