From Middle English ire, yre, from Old English īre, ȳre, īr, ȳr, shortened form of īren (“iron”). More at iron.
Meanings
(obsolete, uncountable) Iron.
[…] 'Tell I'm rud as the smith makes the pieces of ire; […] 1806, Richard Polwhele, The Language, Literature, and Literary Characters of Cornwall: with Illustrations from Devonshire, page 25:
A ire thing, moore smart by haff, / That zeed var off 's za theene 's a laff, / An' zum zes edden' 'xac'ly saff, / Stan's in th' place ee did. 1842, George Philip Rigney Pulman, Rustic Sketches; being poems on angling ... in the dialect of East Devon, page 55:
From Middle English ire, from Old French ire (“ire”), from Latin īra (“wrath, rage”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eysh₂- (“to fall upon, act sharply”) (compare Old English ofost (“haste, zeal”), Old Norse eisa (“to race forward”), Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “supernatural, holy”), οἶστρος (oîstros, “frenzy; gadfly”), Avestan 𐬀𐬈𐬯𐬨𐬀 (aesma, “anger”), Sanskrit इष् f (iṣ, “refreshment, strength”)). Compare also Middle English irre, erre (“anger, wrath”), from Old English yrre, ierre, eorre (“anger, wrath”).
Meanings
(uncountable) Great anger; wrath; keen resentment.
Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's, that so long Perplex'd the Greek and Cytherea's son. 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
to raise the ire of someone
For this th' avenging Pow'r employs his darts; / And empties all his quiver in our hearts; / Thus will perſiſt, relentleſs in his ire, / Till the fair ſlave be render'd to her ſire: [...] a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 419:
News of this notice from the university was picked up by local media and had the effect of raising the ire of some citizens who saw this as an attack on ‘Chinese heritage’, which in turn resulted in a rapid apology from the university[.] 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 3:
If I digg'd up thy forefathers graves, And hung their rotten coffins up in chains, It could not slake mine ire, nor ease my heart. c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
Meanwhile, Buffalo was under a driving ban until midnight Thursday because many of its streets were still clogged, preventing people from getting groceries and medication. In predominantly Black parts of the city, like the East Side, many residents still can’t leave their homes. Twelve-foot snow drifts still cover windows.¶ Buffalo’s slow, haphazard plowing and response has also drawn the ire of county leaders. 2022 December 27, Brianna Sacks, “Buffalo blizzard fuels racial and class divides in polarized city”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 29 Dec 2022:
She lik'd not his desire; Fain would be free but dreadeth parents ire a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
From Middle English ire, from Old French ire (“ire”), from Latin īra (“wrath, rage”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eysh₂- (“to fall upon, act sharply”) (compare Old English ofost (“haste, zeal”), Old Norse eisa (“to race forward”), Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “supernatural, holy”), οἶστρος (oîstros, “frenzy; gadfly”), Avestan 𐬀𐬈𐬯𐬨𐬀 (aesma, “anger”), Sanskrit इष् f (iṣ, “refreshment, strength”)). Compare also Middle English irre, erre (“anger, wrath”), from Old English yrre, ierre, eorre (“anger, wrath”).
Meanings
(rare, transitive) To anger, to irritate.
[…]to give up anorexia. Everyone else deserves their food; it ires me to no end—couldn't write “pissed off,” too juvenile—to hear other girls say, “I shouldn't be eating this.” Shut up, I want to say, you're fucking gorgeous. 2001 August 1, Xan Nowakowski, Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 104:
It doesn't tire a man to put down a carpet so much as it ires him. 1880, Gleason's Monthly Companion, page 287:
I heard enough from the gentleman who has just taken his seat, and from my friend, Dr. Caldwell, to ire me just a little bit. 1915, Dr. Duncan Eve of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, in the Southern Medical Journal, volume 4, page 279
Mr. Gray (Bonaventure–Îles-de-la-Madeleine): Mr. Speaker, [...] Having been in the House of Commons for seven and one-half years and regardless of political stripe, the thing that angers and ires me the most is to hear downtown metro people talking […] 1992 03, Canadian House of Commons, House of Commons Debates, volume 7, page 8115:
The origin of Gates’ decapitation of the Air Force’s top leadership clearly lie with the F-22. Gates was ired that “every time Moseley and Air Force secretary Mike Wynne came to see me, it was about a new bomber or more F-22s.” 2014 March, John A. Tirpak, “Gates versus the Air Force”, in Air Force Magazine, page 56:
Instinctively Lear knows she is making some sense, but he has never been treated in this way before and it ires him into calling Goneril a “degenerate bastard” The decrepit old[…] 2012 September 14, Jim McGahern, A Leg up on the Canon Book 3: Adaptations of Shakespeare's Tragedies and Kyd's the Spanish Tragedy, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 264:
Only one employee testified as to the interrogation. This was Mary Farley who testified that at the time the research interviewer reached her home she was entertaining company and that she was “ired” by the interruption. 1968, “H. P. Wasson and Company”, in Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board, volume 170, page 298:
‘And do not leave Furnaux in a pool of blood, however much he ires you. He has his uses.’ 2020, Sarah Hawkswood, River of Sins, Allison and Busby:
“You have enemies. Is that why you have chosen to leave at this time?”
It ired me that he should think so, but I held my peace, and when I spoke at last, my voice was mild. 1962, Louis L'Amour, Lando, page 3: