Obs. exc. arch. Forms: α. 1 Northumb. fœra, 2–9 fere, 3 south. vere, 3–6 fer, 3, 6–8 Sc. feir, (5 feyr), 4–8 feare, 4–9 feer(e. β. 6–8 phear(e, pheer(e, 7 phere. [ME. fere, ONorthumb. fœra, aphetic f. OE. ȝeféra (Y-FERE):—pre-Eng. *gifôrjon-, f. gi- (Y-) together + *fórâ going, way, f. ablaut-root of faran.]

1

  1.  A companion, comrade, mate, partner; whether male or female; † rarely in comb. with a sb., as meat-, play-, school-, sucking-fere: see those words.

2

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 30. Ne wærun we foeran eora in blodgyte uitgana.

3

c. 1205.  Lay., 26135. Howel … nom al his feren and ferde to þan munte.

4

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 86. Þu hauest monie ueren.

5

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8607 (Cott.).

        Bot fra hir fere sco stall hir barn,
And laid bi hir þat was forfarn.

6

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, VI. 70.

        For till hunt hym owt off the land
With hund and horne, rycht as he war
A woulff, a theyff, or theyffs fer.

7

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XVIII. 19. Peter fysshed for hus fode · and hus fere Andreu.

8

c. 1420.  Sir Amadace (Camden), lviii. ‘Is he comun’ he sayd, ‘my nowun true fere?’

9

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 600. Few feiris with him that tyme he hed.

10

a. 1572.  Gascoigne, The Arraignment of a Lover.

        Then Crafte the cryer called a quest,
  Of whom was Falshoode formost feere.

11

1575.  R. B., Appius & Virginia, in Hazl., Dodsley, IV. 113.

        My sovereign lord and friendly pheer Virginius, father thine,
To nurse as dot become a child, when bones are buried mine.

12

1627.  Drayton, Agincourt, 100. Englands valient Infantry his Pheres.

13

a. 1775.  ‘Hobie Noble,’ vii., in Child, Ballads, clxxxix. (1890), 2/1.

        Weel may ye be, my feiries five!
  And aye, what is your will wi me?

14

1830.  Tennyson, Poems, Supposed Confessions, 40.

        The lamb rejoiceth in the year,
And raceth freely with his fere.

15

1867.  Jean Ingelow, A Story of Doom, v. 58.

                        [She] went forth
With fair and flattering words, among her feres.

16

1880.  T. E. Webb, trans. Goethe’s Faust, 24.

        Dust shall he eat, and with a zest,
  And, like the Snake, mine ancient fere, be merry!

17

  b.  in phrases: to choose, have, love, take to or unto (one’s) fere.

18

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 11. Elch man haueð to fere on engel of heuene.

19

a. 1250.  The Proverbs of Ælfred, 222, in O. E. Misc., 116.

        For ne may he for-vare
þe hyne haueþ to vere.

20

c. 1300.  Cursor M., 4449 (Gött.).

        Bot þe mayster iaoler
To ioseph taght þaim vnto fere.

21

c. 1320.  Castel off Loue, 483.

        Ak he ne louede [me] neuere to fere,
Þat Merci my suster nul not here.

22

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 498.

        Whom shall y haue now to my fere,
When ȝe arne þus from me go?

23

c. 1440.  Partonope, 129. Syth ye haue chose me to youre feere.

24

  e.  of inanimate things.

25

1593.  Southwell, Saint Peter’s Complaint, The Avthovr to the Reader.

        Licence my single penne to seeke a pheere.
    Ibid. (1595), Poems, David’s Peccavi, i.
But feares now are my pheares, greife my delight,
  My teares my drinke, my famisht thoughtes my bredd.

26

  2.  A consort; spouse; a husband or wife; † rarely nuptial, wedded fere. Also in phrases, to give, have, marry, take, wed to one’s fere.

27

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 93. Me buried heo [Sapphira] mid hire fere.

28

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 26692 (Cott.). Als adam did and eue his fere.

29

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 489.

        And Fortiger for loue fin
Hir tok to fere and to wiue.

30

a. 1400.  Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), 208.

        But with another then her feare
We founde her doe amisse.

31

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 105. Þou schalt not desire þi neiȝboris feere.

32

c. 1450.  Lonelich, Grail, lv. 211.

        To ȝowre Owne brothir that Is so dere,
My dowhter I schal ȝeven to his fere.

33

c. 1550.  Adam Bell, in Ritson, Anc. Pop. P. (1791), 6.

        Two of them were single men,
  The third had a wedded fere.

34

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XVIII. 339.

                    The nuptial fere
Of famous Vulcan.

35

1612.  The Two Noble Kinsmen, V. ii.

                    This anatomy
Had by this young fair pheer a boy.

36

a. 1765.  Sir Cawlire, ii., in Child, Ballads (1885), III. lxi. 58/1.

        Knights and lordes they woed her both,
  Trusted to haue beene her feere.

37

1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III.

        And are these two all, all the crew,
  That woman and her fleshless Pheere?

38

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. III. i. 185.

        Hast thou forotten how he thy Deiphobus,
Brother of fallen Paris, who with stubborn claim
Took thee, the widow, as his fere.

39

  b.  Of animals: Mate.

40

a. 1547.  Surrey, in Tottell’s Misc. (Arb.), 218.

          Eche beast can chose his fere according to his minde,
And eke can shew a friendly chere lyke to their beastly kinde.

41

1589.  Greene, Poems, Melicertus’ Madrigal, i.

        No flower that sapless thrives,
No turtle without fere.

42

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. (1605), 152.

        But, for her Love, the Mullet hath no Peer;
For, if the Fisher have surpriz’d her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shore she followeth.

43

1603.  Drayton, Odes, iii. 33.

        Each little Bird, this tide,
  Doth chuse her loved Pheere.

44

  3.  An equal. a. Of a person: Peer; also in phrase, without (peer or) fere. b. Of a thing: in phrase, fere for fere (Sc.), every way equal.

45

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 1149. Among her fereȝ þat watȝ so quyt!

46

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 5144 (Trin.). Ar þei no knyȝtis ny knyȝtis fere.

47

1548.  Hall, Chron., 181 b. Thynkyng hymself a kyng, without either peere or fere, assembled a greate army.

48

15[?].  Knt. of Curtesy, 460. A, noble Knight, withouten fere!

49

1636.  R. James, Iter Lancastrense (1845), 4.

                        Fairies spinne,
And of their feres good housewife praises winne.

50

1768.  A. Ross, Helenore, I. 11.

        For joining hands the just were feer for feer,
And win’d to ither, as A to B, as near.

51