answere

English

Noun

answere (plural answeres)

1. Obsolete spelling of answer.

Verb

answere (third-person singular simple present answeres, present participle answering, simple past and past participle answered)

1. Obsolete spelling of answer.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Nay anſwere me. Stand and vnfolde your ſelfe.

Anagrams

• weaners

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English andswaru, from Proto-West Germanic *andaswaru, from Proto-Germanic *andaswarō; equivalent to and- +‎ sware. The second-syllable vocalism is presumably from the verb answeren; for the pronunciation with /au̯/, see Caunterbury.

Alternative forms

• ansuer, ansuere, answar, answer
• and-sware (Early Middle English); anndswere (Ormulum)
• ansqwere, answore (East Anglia); ansuar, answar, answare, awnswere (Northern)
• answar, aunsware, onsware, onsquer, onsquere, onswere, unsware, unswere (West Midland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈan(d)ˌswɛ̞ːr(ə)/, /ˈan(d)ˌswaːr(ə)/, /ˈau̯n-/

Noun

answere (plural answers)

1. A response to a query or questioning; an answering.
2. The answer for a problem or challenge; a solving.
3. A decision or response coming from a deity or divinity.
4. A legal defence or the privilege of being able to mount one.
5. (rare) A reply to a point; a counterpoint or countering.

Related terms

• answeren
• answerynge

Descendants

• English: answer
• Middle Scots: answer, ansueir, ansowr
  • Scots: answer

References

• “answēre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 3 December 2018.

Etymology 2

Verb

answere

1. alternative form of answeren