I. ˈmī(ə)r, -īə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse mȳrr; akin to Old English mōs marsh, bog — more at moss
1.
a. : a wet spongy earth : marsh , swamp , bog
the mire is relieved only by small stretches of open dry forest — Saturday Review
b. : something resembling a mire
stuck fast in the mire of debt — Adrian Bell
wallowed continuously in an emotional mire — Lucius Garvin
sink deeper in the mire of conflict — Joseph Alsop
2. : heavy often deep mud, slush, or dirt
played on a football field that was thick with mire
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English myren, from myre, mire, n.
transitive verb
1.
a. : to cause to stick fast in or as if in mire : plunge or fix in mire
many cattle were lost in the swamps where … they were mired down — W.M.Kollmorgen
the advent of a thaw which will mire roads and fields — New York Herald Tribune
b. : entangle , involve
the people … are no more mired in the past — Louis Kronenberger
the most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail and confusion — Clinton Rossiter
2. : to soil with mud, slush, or dirt
my mired boots played havoc with the neatly sanded floor — A.T.Quiller-Couch
furious because she mired the car
intransitive verb
: to stick or sink in mire
a road in which horses and wagons mired regularly — Edmund Arnold