weir
pronunciation
How to pronounce weir in British English:
UK [wɪə(r)]
How to pronounce weir in American English:
US [wɪr]
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- Noun:
- a low dam built across a stream to raise its level or divert its flow
- a fence or wattle built across a stream to catch or retain fish
Word Origin
- weir
- weir: [OE] A weir is etymologically a structure for ‘hindering’ the flow of water. The word’s Old English ancestor was derived from the verb werīan ‘defend, protect’, also ‘hinder’, and hence by extension ‘dam up’, which was distantly related to Sanskrit vr ‘cover’ and vāraya ‘stop, hinder’, and came ultimately from the Indo-European base *wer- ‘cover, shut’.
- weir (n.)
- Old English wer "dam, fence, enclosure," especially one for catching fish (related to werian "dam up"), from Proto-Germanic *wer-jon- (cognates: Old Norse ver, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch were, Dutch weer, Old High German wari, German Wehr "defense, protection," Gothic warjan "to defend, protect"), from PIE *wer- (5) "to cover, shut" (cognates: Sanskrit vatah "enclosure," vrnoti "covers, wraps, shuts;" Lithuanian užveriu "to shut, to close;" Old Persian *pari-varaka "protective;" Latin (op)erire "to cover," (ap)erire "open, uncover" (with ap- "off, away"); Old Church Slavonic vora "sealed, closed," vreti "shut;" Old Irish feronn "field," properly "enclosed land").
Example
- 1. That is how weir acquired its modern pronunciation .
- 2. Then you support dr weir 's decision to confine us ?
- 3. Weir subscribes to the view that children benefit from being independent .
- 4. David weir - who won his first gold on sunday evening , is fitted with a custom-built chair at a cost of 5000 .
- 5. Johnny weir skates in world premiere of heartbroken at ice theatre of new york gala .