mare
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++mare /meə $ mer/ noun [countable] 1. HBAa female horse or donkey 母马；母驴 → stallion, filly2 mare’s nest a) USELESSa discovery that seems important but is actually of no value 似乎重要但实际上无价值的发现 b) CONFUSEDa confused situation or a very untidy place 混乱的局势；乱糟糟的地方3 British English spoken informal if someone is having a mare, things are going very badly for them at the moment. It is short for nightmare 梦魇，噩梦〔nightmare的缩略式〕 The Arsenal goalkeeper had a mare in the first half. 阿森纳队的守门员在上半场简直就像做了场噩梦。
Examples from the Corpus
mare• Except in the case of the stallion deliberately herding his mares, this is not a question of dominance or bullying.• I rather gather Geoffrey, my youngest, has got a nice mare showing.• Recruit sought: Cleveland Police are looking for an unusual recruit a horse following the retirement of ten-year-old mare Gellerdale.• The wood was only a hundred paces away, but the sweat-streaked mare was blown and slowing.• And the mare, as if finally understanding, begins to strain, tosses her head wildly, pulls at the reins.• The mare struggles, writhes, strains.Origin mare Old English meremare nounChinese
female horse Corpus or a donkey
mare
mare /meə $ mer/
noun [countable]
2. mare’s nest
a. a discovery that seems important but is actually of no value
b. a confused situation or a very untidy place
3. British English spoken informal if someone is having a mare, things are going very badly for them at the moment. It is short for nightmare:
The Arsenal goalkeeper had a mare in the first half.
mare /meə $ mer/
noun [countable] Language: Old English
Origin: mere
1. a female horse or donkey ⇨ stallion, fillyOrigin: mere
2. mare’s nest
a. a discovery that seems important but is actually of no value
b. a confused situation or a very untidy place
3. British English spoken informal if someone is having a mare, things are going very badly for them at the moment. It is short for nightmare:
