Word of the Day

: November 2, 2007

hare

verb HAIR

What It Means

: to go swiftly : tear

hare in Context

"I found myself, at three a.m. on a dark November night, haring in a rented car through the Irish countryside . . . ." (Renata Adler, Pitch Dark)

Did You Know?

No doubt you've heard the 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 1719, and people have been "haring off" and "haring about" ever since.