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# mare

«mare» in Mova's school dictionary: **A female horse, donkey or zebra, especially an adult one** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a mare, mares; mare – Latin «sea», plural «maria»)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A female horse, donkey or zebra, especially an adult one. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#m1)

2) (astronomy) A large, dark, flat area on the Moon, once thought to be a sea; plural «maria». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#m2)

3) (UK slang, from «nightmare») A terrible or annoying situation: «It was a right mare getting here». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science and farm topics, a mare is a female horse; a male is a stallion, and a baby is a foal. In astronomy, the dark patches on the Moon are «maria», like the Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis), where Apollo 11 landed. In UK slang, «a mare» or «a nightmare» is a really bad time. Phrases: «a mare and her foal», «having a mare» (UK slang: doing very badly).

### examples

- The mare stood in the field with her new foal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x1)
- A female horse is called a mare. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x2)
- Apollo 11 landed in a mare called the Sea of Tranquillity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x3)
- The dark patches on the Moon are called maria. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x4)
- (slang, UK) The traffic was a total mare this morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x5)
- (slang, UK) Our goalie had a mare and let in five goals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x6)
- The farmer has three mares and one stallion. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x7)
- The grey mare jumped the fence easily. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x8)
- Why, this is no horse, but a mare. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/#x9)

### note

Countable: one mare, two mares. The Moon sense is pronounced «MAH-ray», plural «maria». Do not confuse with «mayor» (a town leader, sounds the same in some accents) or «mere». The slang «mare» is short for «nightmare» – informal, not for writing tests.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mare» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mare/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.