tire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A rubber ring filled with air that fits around a wheel of a car or bicycle.

   One of the car's tires went flat on the motorway.

2. 2
   verb

   To become or make someone weak and in need of rest.

   The long walk began to tire the children.

3. 3
   verb

   To become bored or impatient with something.

   I soon tired of his constant complaints.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Tire, in the sense of a wheel covering, was probably shortened from attire, a Middle English word originally meaning “to put in order.” The curved iron plates fitted around cartwheels were understood as the wheel’s clothing. Tire became the settled 17th-century spelling and remains standard in the United States.

From Middle English tiren, tirien, teorien, from Old English tȳrian, tēorian (“to fail, cease, become weary, be tired, exhausted; tire, weary, exhaust”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *teuʀōn (“to cease”), which is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dews- (“to fail, be behind, lag”). Compare Ancient Greek δεύομαι (deúomai, “to lack”), Sanskrit दोष (dóṣa, “crime, fault, vice, deficiency”).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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