from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To have the courage required for: The gymnast dared a breathtakingly difficult move.
- transitive v. To challenge (someone) to do something requiring boldness: They dared me to dive off the high board.
- transitive v. To confront or oppose boldly. See Synonyms at defy.
- intransitive v. To be courageous or bold enough to do or try something: Go ahead and dive if you dare.
- auxiliary v. To be courageous or bold enough to: I dare not say. How dare she go?
- n. An act of daring; a challenge.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To have enough courage (to do something).
- v. To defy or challenge (someone to do something)
- v. To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to
- n. A challenge to prove courage.
- n. A small fish, the dace.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash.
- n. Defiance; challenge.
- n. A small fish; the dace.
- intransitive v. To have adequate or sufficient courage for any purpose; to be bold or venturesome; not to be afraid; to venture.
- intransitive v. To lurk; to lie hid.
- transitive v. To have courage for; to attempt courageously; to venture to do or to undertake.
- transitive v. To challenge; to provoke; to defy.
- transitive v. To terrify; to daunt.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be bold enough (to do something); have courage, strength of mind, or hardihood (to undertake some action or project); not to be afraid; venture: followed by an infinitive (with or without to) as object, or sometimes, by ellipsis, used absolutely.
- [Originally and still often used in the third person of the present tense without a personal termination, and in such case always followed by the infinitive without to: as, he dare not do it.
- To venture on; attempt boldly to perform.
- To challenge; provoke to action, especially by asserting or implying that one lacks courage to accept the challenge; defy: as, to dare a man to fight.
- To arouse; rouse.
- To be in fear; tremble with fear; be stupefied or dazed with fear. Specifically
- To lie still in fear; lurk in dread; especially, lie or squat close to the ground, like a frightened bird or hare; look anxiously around, as such a lurking creature.
- To droop; languish.
- To strike with fear; terrify; daunt; dismay.
- To terrify and catch (larks), as by means of a mirror or a piece of red cloth, or by walking round with a hawk on the fist where they are crouching, and then throwing a net over them.
- n. The quality of being daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash; spirit.
- n. A challenge; defiance.
- n. A mirror for daring larks.
- n. Same as dace, 1.
- n. A Middle English form of deer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. to be courageous enough to try or do something
- v. challenge
- n. a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy
- v. take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission
And warmly and kindling dare -- yes, _dare_ to hope,
I dare you to go and ask him about it; I _dare_ you to; and see what he says.
"Do you dare -- do you _dare_ look your own daughter in the eye and say she is no lady?"
I wanted to know, only I didn't dare -- actually didn't _dare_, for Ellaline's sake, to speak angrily.
"I dare you, _dare_, you to tell 'em, Jane," Polk suddenly said, coming over and putting a hand on one of my shoulders and one on Jane's.
"How dare you! how _dare_ you!" cried Elsie, stamping her foot, and drawing a long, sobbing breath.
"How dare you, sirrah, hold such language to me -- how _dare_ you?
"How dare I-- _dare_ I-- tell you that I love you and want you for wife?
Did you dare, Eloise Evringham, did you _dare_ spoil your life -- my life -- our future, by scaring Dr. Ballard with that bugbear? "
I tried to write a tweet once, on a dare from a coworker, and I failed.