Mere (mēr), n. [Written also
mar.] [OE. mere, AS. mere mere, sea; akin to D.
meer lake, OS. meri sea, OHG. meri, mari,
G. meer, Icel. marr, Goth. marei, Russ.
more, W. mor, Ir. & Gael. muir, L. mare,
and perh. to L. mori to die, and meaning originally, that
which is dead, a waste. Cf. Mortal, Marine,
Marsh, Mermaid, Moor.] A pool or
lake. Drayton. Tennyson.
Mere, n. [Written also meer and
mear.] [AS. gemǣre. √269.] A
boundary. Bacon.
Mere (?), v. t. To divide, limit,
or bound. [Obs.]
Which meared her rule with Africa.
Spenser.Mere, n. A mare. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Mere (?), a. [Superl.
Merest. The comparative is rarely or never used.] [L.
merus.] 1. Unmixed; pure; entire;
absolute; unqualified.
Then entered they the mere, main
sea.
Chapman.
The sorrows of this world would be mere and
unmixed.
Jer. Taylor.
2. Only this, and nothing else; such, and no
more; simple; bare; as, a mere boy; a mere
form.
From mere success nothing can be concluded in
favor of any nation.
Atterbury.