Definition of hare
hare
orhares
: any of various swift, gnawing, herbivorous, usually shy lagomorph mammals (family Leporidae and especially genus Lepus) that have long ears, short tails, and powerful long hind legs, are usually solitary or sometimes live in pairs, have the young open-eyed and furred at birth, and live in aboveground nests — compare rabbit 1a
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Recent Examples of hare from the Web
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Just about everyone who has ever read a children's book knows the fable of the tortoise and the hare.
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Costco executives have acknowledged the company is a tortoise, not a hare, in the online arena, and that its focus is still on getting customers into its brick-and-mortar stores.
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Stoats were introduced in the 1880s to help control rabbits and hares.
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Most of the animal bones come from gazelles, but there were also the cut and broken bones of hartebeests, wildebeests, zebras, buffalos, porcupines, hares, tortoises, freshwater mollusks, snakes and ostrich eggs.
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Residents have to download the $hare app to make a donation.
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But Yannis Pitsiladis, a professor of sport and exercise science at the University of Brighton, England, may be the tortoise in this race with Nike’s hare.
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But Yannis Pitsiladis, a professor of sport and exercise science at the University of Brighton, England, may be the tortoise in this race with Nike’s hare.
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They were followed by snowshoe hares, which also browse on shrubs.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hare.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of hare
Middle English, from Old English hara; akin to Old High German haso hare, Sanskrit śaśa, Old English hasu gray
hare
Definition of hare
hared
;haring
intransitive verb
: to go swiftly : 1tear hare off down the road
Examples of hare in a Sentence
He came haring round the corner at top speed.
she's always haring off to attend to some emergency
Did You Know?
No doubt you've heard Aesop's fable about the speedy hare and the plodding tortoise. The hare may have lost that race due to a tactical error (stopping to take a nap before reaching the finish line), but the long-eared mammal's overall reputation for swiftness remains intact. It's no surprise, then, that hare is used as a verb meaning "to move quickly." The noun hare (which refers, in its most specific zoological sense, to a member of the genus Lepus, whose young are usually able to hop a few minutes after birth) is a very old word. It first appeared as hara in a Latin-Old English glossary around the year 700. The verb was in use by the end of the 19th century, and people have been "haring off" and "haring about" ever since.
Origin and Etymology of hare
see 1hare
HARE Defined for English Language Learners
hare
playDefinition of hare for English Language Learners
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: a fast animal that resembles a rabbit
hare
Definition of hare for English Language Learners
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: to run or go very quickly
HARE Defined for Kids
hare
playDefinition of hare for Students
: a gnawing animal that resembles the related rabbit but is usually larger and tends to live by itself
Learn More about hare
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See words that rhyme with hare Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for hare Spanish Central: Translation of hare Nglish: Translation of hare for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of hare for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about hare
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