arch. and dial. Forms: 1 ʓearo, ʓearu, ʓearw-, -ow-, -uw-, 2–3 ȝaru, 3 ȝareou, -ew, -ue, -ow, ȝeærwe, ȝæru, -ew, ȝeruh, pl. ȝarre, 3–4 ȝar, 3–5 ȝare, 4 yarwe, ȝeare, Sc. ȝair, yhar, (4–5 yore, ȝere, yere), 5 yar, youre, 6 Sc. ȝor(e, ȝoir, yoir, 3– yare. [OE. ʓearu, -o, = OS. garu, MDu. *gare (Du. gaar done, dressed), OHG. garo, garaw- ready, prepared, complete (MHG. gara, gar, gar(e)w-), ON. gǫrr ready made, prompt, skilled (see GARE a.); prob. a compound of OTeut. *ga- Y- prefix and *arw-, represented by OE. earu ready (? in Exodus 339 for MS. ʓearu), OS. aru (MS. pl. aroa) ready (for reaping), ON. ǫrr ready, liberal-handed, in neut. ǫrt advb. quite, OE. earwunga, (late Northumb.) arwunge gratis, freely, and perhaps Goth, arwjô, OHG. arawûn in vain.]
1. Ready, prepared. a. of persons: const. to with sb. or inf.
Beowulf, 211 (Gr.). Beornas ʓearwe on stefn stiʓon.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxvi. § 6. Ic hæbbe nu onȝiten þæt ðu eart ʓearo to onʓitanne mina lara.
a. 1000. Andreas, 234 (Gr.). He wæs … ʓearo ʓuðe.
c. 1205. Lay., 9457. Weoren alle þa cnihtes Ȝærewe [c. 1275 ȝar] to þon fihte. Ibid., 22278. We beoð alle ȝarewe [c. 1275 ȝarue] To ganne & to ride.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2334. Ich am ȝarow to al þe wa þet tu const me ȝarkin.
a. 1240. Ureisun, 132, in O. E. Hom., I. 197. Ȝif he is to bote ȝeruh and bit þe uorȝiuenesse.
13[?]. Coer de L., 343. Stylle he hovyd and bode yore; To them he thought to ryde more.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 346. On athir syd thus war thai yhar, And till assemble all redy war.
c. 1440. York Myst., vii. 30. To offyr loke þat ye be yore [rhyme nomore].
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 704. I am redy and yare, go we in fere To that bright.
1603. Harsnet, Pop. Impost., 143. And so the second may be yare and ready, to take his cue and turne of the former.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. ii. 61. I hope, if you haue occasion to vse me for your owne turne, you shall finde me yare.
b. of things; in later use, (of implements) ready for use.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 1270. Þæt hy him yrmþa to fela grim hellefyr ʓearo to wite and weard seoð.
971. Blickl. Hom., 39. Ʒedoþ þæt eow sy mete ʓearo on minum huse.
c. 1205. Lay., 7783. Þe tur wes al ȝaru.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 394. His merci is hire euer ȝeruh.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 378. Ȝif hundes urneþ to him ward He … hokeþ paþes sviþe narewe & haueþ mid him his blenches ȝarewe.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 895. Mi dere gode damisele my deþ is al ȝare. Ibid., 2729. Þe werwolf waited wiȝtly which schip was ȝarest, to fare forþ at þat flod.
c. 1400. Gamelyn, 90. Afterward came his brother … And seide to gamelyn is oure mete ȝare?
c. 1595. Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 59. To see that … everie souldier [should have] his furniture as yare and fine as might be.
1627. Capt. J. Smith, Sea Gram., viii. 35. The Corporall is to … see … the souldiers … keepe their armes cleane, neat, and yare.
1631. Markham, Country Contentm. (ed. 4), I. xi. 78. You shall obserue that all your Tooles, Lines, or Implements be (as the Sea-man sayth) yare, fit, and ready.
1799. Scott, Covenanter’s Fate, xxxiii. At each pommel there, for battle yare, A Jedwood axe was slung. Ibid. (1808), Marmion, I. ix. The gunner held his linstock yare.
c. To make yare: to make ready, get ready, prepare (also refl.).
c. 1290. Beket, 821, in S. Eng Leg., 130. Þare-fore make þe ȝare i-nov þine a countes to ȝelde.
13[?]. Coer de L., 1185. The knyght it takes withouten let, Dyghtes hym, and made hym yare.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2270, Philomela. This Therius let make hise shepis ȝare And In-to grece hymself is forth I-fare.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iv. 121. I shall found to make me yare.
1865. Tom Taylor, Ball. of Brittany, Bran, II. To-night make me a good ship yare.
2. Alert, nimble, active, brisk, quick.
13[?]. Coer de L., 6751. The Sarezynes fledde…; In there herte they were soo yarwe, Alle here yates they thought too narwe.
c. 1425. Engl. Conq. Irel., 114. Thys legat was youre aboute, pees to make betwene the kynge & Iohn.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 18, in Macro Plays, 77. God hym ȝeuyth to aungelis Ful ȝep & ful ȝare.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xiii. 131. A halter’d necke, which do’s the Hangman thanke, For being yare about him.
1626. Capt. J. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 18. Be yare at the helme.
1698. Vanbrugh, Short Vind, 27. I believe, had the Obscenity he has routed up here, been buried as deep in his Church-yard, the Yarest Boar in his Parish wou’d hardly have tost up his Snout at it.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 11. It’s the Trick of a Hound to be yare at Hares only.
1831. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 253. Like a right yare steersman.
1869. Athenæum, 28 Aug., 284/2. Yare, which is still current in Norfolk, and is pronounced yar, = brisk, active, lively.
b. Of a ship: Moving lightly and easily; answering readily to the helm; easily manageable.
1390. Gower, Conf., II., 237. The wynd was good, the Schip was yare.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1595), 131. The Persian gallies, being high cargged, heauy, and not yare of steredge.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. vii. 39. Their slippes are yare, yours heauy. Ibid. (1610), Temp., V. i. 224. Our Ship … Is tyte, and yare.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 357/1. She is Roomsom for her Men, and yare to run too and again in.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann., VI. (1658), 749. Caesars ships being more yare, and ready for any needs of service.
1658. Earl Monm., trans. Paruta’s Wars Cyprus, 177. Vluzzali … commanded 25 of his yarer gallies … to assault our right Wing.
3. Comb., as yare-handed; † yare-witel, quick-witted.
[c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. ii. Se ʓeonga wæs ʓeworden hale lichaman … & ʓearowyrde on ʓespræce.]
c. 1205. Lay., 3028. Heo was alre ȝungest Of soðe ȝær witelest. Ibid., 5639. Þa cnihtes weoren wise & ful ȝere witele.
1728. W. Betagh, Voy. rd. World, 26. Don Pedro … took care however to be very officious or yare handed (as we say) with his present.
