mere

Etymology 1

From Middle English mere, mer, from Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, gleam”). Cognate with Old English āmerian, āmyrian (“to purify, examine, revise”). The Middle English word was perhaps influenced by or conflated with sound-alike Middle English mere (“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”), from Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz.

adj

1. Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
   More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
   Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story. 2012-03, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 106
   Ah...my sister wishes to see you. A mere child. She never wants to have lunch with her dear sister, but I guess that's not your problem. 2019, Con Man Games, SmashGames, quoting Margaret, Kindergarten 2, SmashGames
2. (obsolete) Pure, unalloyed .
3. (obsolete) Nothing less than; complete, downright .

Etymology 2

From Middle English mere, from Old English mǣre, ġemǣre (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairiją (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”). Cognate with Dutch meer (“a limit, boundary”), Icelandic mærr (“borderland”), Swedish landamäre (“border, borderline, boundary”).

noun

1. Boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line.

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
3. (cartography) To decide upon the position of a boundary; to position it on a map.
   What chance is there of revising this example of case law to include an exception to the generally cited rule when an administrative boundary has been mered in the past to coincide with a private property boundary? April 2016, David EM Andrews, “Merely a question of boundaries.”, in Sheetlines, The Charles Close Society, →ISSN

Etymology 3

From Middle English mere, from Old English mere (“lake, pool,” in compounds and poetry “sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognate with West Frisian mar, Dutch meer, Low German Meer, and German Meer. Non-Germanic cognates include Latin mare, Breton mor, and Russian мо́ре (móre). Doublet of mar and mare.

noun

1. (dialectal or literary) A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond. More specifically, it can refer to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth. Also included in place names such as Windermere.
   When making for the Brooke, the Falkoner doth espie On River, Plash, or Mere, where store of Fowle doth lye: 1622, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 20 p. 16
   She loved.. to watch the lovely shadows in the silent depths of the placid mere. 1913, Annie S. Swan, The Fairweathers
   Lok got to his feet and wandered along by the marshes towards the mere where Fa had disappeared. 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber & Faber, published 2005, page 194

Etymology 4

See mayor.

noun

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of mayor and mair.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Maori mere (“more”).

noun

1. A Maori war-club.
   As Owen prepared to dismiss the matter, Rule produced something that really caught the great man's eye – a greenstone mere, the warclub of the Maori. 2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 41