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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tire.

To become sleepy or weary.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/UK/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/General-American[ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ]General-American/ˈtɑːɚ/Appalachia, Southern-US
  1. To become sleepy or weary.

    intransitive
  2. To make sleepy or weary.

    transitive
  3. To become bored or impatient (with).

    intransitive
    I tire of this book.
  4. To bore.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *teuʀōn Old English tēorian Middle English tiren English tire From Middle English tiren, tirien, teorien, from Old English tȳrian, tēorian (“to fail, cease, become weary, be tired, exhausted; tire, weary, exhaust”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *teuʀōn (“to cease”), which is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dews- (“to fail, be behind, lag”). Compare Ancient Greek δεύομαι (deúomai, “to lack”), Sanskrit दोष (dóṣa, “crime, fault, vice, deficiency”).

noun/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/UK/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/General-American[ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ]General-American/ˈtɑːɚ/Appalachia, Southern-US
  1. US and Canada spelling of tyre: The rubber covering on a wheel.

  2. US spelling of tyre: The metal rim of a wheel, especially that of a railroad locomotive.

    US · alt-of
  3. A child's apron covering the upper part of the body, and tied with tape or cord; a pinafore. Also tier.

  4. Accoutrements, accessories.

    obsolete
  5. Dress, clothes, attire.

    obsolete
  6. A covering for the head; a headdress.

Where this word comes from

Probably from Middle English tir(e) (“equipment, furnshings, ornament”). See the details at tyre.

verb/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/UK/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/General-American[ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ]General-American/ˈtɑːɚ/Appalachia, Southern-US
  1. To dress or adorn.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

Probably from Middle English tir(e) (“equipment, furnshings, ornament”). See the details at tyre.

verb/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/UK/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/General-American[ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ]General-American/ˈtɑːɚ/Appalachia, Southern-US
  1. To seize, pull, and tear prey, as a hawk does.

    obsolete
  2. To seize, rend, or tear something as prey; to be fixed upon, or engaged with, anything.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English tire, from Old French tirer (“to draw or pull”), akin to English tear (“to rend”).

noun/ˈtaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/UK/ˈtaɪ̯ɚ/General-American[ˈtʰaɪ̯ɚ]General-American/ˈtɑːɚ/Appalachia, Southern-US
  1. A tier, row, or rank.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.