dare vb.1 (2 freq.: not pre-Eliz.)
1.
to go so far as “to,” be willing “to”
Mer.V. V. i. 251
“I be bound,”
H8 V. i. 17
“I love you And durst
commend a secret to your ear”
; phr. “dares” or
“durst
better”=would rather All'sW. III. vi. 95,
H8 III. ii. 254.
2.
to challenge, defy
MND. III. ii. 413,
1H6 I. iii. 45
“am I dar'd and bearded
to my face?,”
Rom. II. iv. 12
“being d-d,”
Ham. IV. v. 132
“I
damnation,”
Mac. III. iv. 104, Ant. III. xi. [xiii.] 25 ∥
Obscure passages: Meas. IV. iv.
28*
(‘Reason taunts or defies her with no,’ or ‘Reason defies her denial of my
assertions’); 2H4 IV. i.
119*
(‘Their coursers, by neighing, challenging
the spur to give the signal of setting off’).
