tire

pronunciation

How to pronounce tire in British English: UK [ˈtaɪə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce tire in American English: US [ˈtaɪər] word us audio image

Noun:

hoop that covers a wheel
Verb:

get tired of something or somebody
exhaust or tire through overuse or great strain or stress
deplete
cause to be bored

Word Origin

tire: tire: [OE] Tire is something of a mystery word. It was relatively common in the Old English period (where it originally meant ‘fail, cease, come to an end’ – ‘become weary’ is a secondary development), but then it disappeared, to return in the 14th century. Nor is anything certain known about its pre-English ancestry, although it may go back to the Indo-European base *deus- (source also of Sanskrit dosa- ‘fault, lack’). The use of the past participle tired as an adjective dates from the late 14th century.

tire (v.1): "to weary," also "to become weary," Old English teorian (Kentish tiorian) "to fail, cease; become weary; make weary, exhaust," of uncertain origin; according to Watkins possibly from a PIE *deu-s-, suffixed form of root *deu- (1) "to lack, be wanting." Related: Tired; tiring.

tire (n.): late 15c., "iron plates forming a rim of a carriage wheel," probably from tire "equipment, dress, covering" (c. 1300), a shortened form of attire (n.). The notion is of the tire as the dressing of the wheel. The original spelling was tyre, which had shifted to tire in 17c.-18c., but since early 19c. tyre has been revived in Great Britain and become standard there. Rubber ones, for bicycles (later automobiles) are from 1877. A tire-iron originally was one of the iron plates; as a device for separating a tire from a wheel, by 1909.

3. Last month , the obama administration let the tire tariff quietly expire .

4. The romney campaign insists those tariffs are entirely distinguishable from the tire duties obama imposed in 2009 .