fare meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

fare

noun

UK /ˈfɛə/ · CA, US /ˈfɛɚ/

Etymology From Middle English fare, from a merger of Old English fær (“journey, road”) and faru (“journey, companions, baggage”), from Proto-Germanic *farą and *farō (“journey, fare”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“a going, passage”).

Obsolete A going; journey; travel; voyage; course; passage.

thoroughfare

Money paid for a transport ticket.

train fare
bus fare

1 more example

taxi fare

A paying passenger, especially in a taxi.

Food and drink.

“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Bell pushes labelled "Steward" proved to be more than ornamental, even though gassy mineral waters may not be the ideal fare for a narrow-gauge journey.1958 July 23, R. K. Kirkland, “Into the Mountains on the Festiniog Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 452:

Supplies for consumption or pleasure.

The television channel tended to broadcast unremarkable downmarket fare.
Just another channel that offers the usual fare of makeover programs and reruns of old sitcoms.

UK, Slang A prostitute's client.

Derived terms: 53 terms
airfare, bachelor's fare, bill of fare, bus fare, carfare, Cheesefare, eelfare, elver, error fare, evilfare, excursion fare, fare basis, farebeater, farebox, fare box, fare break point, farecard, fare card, fare dodger, fare-dodging, fare evader, fare evasion, faregate, fare ladder, farepayer, fare-paying, fareway, fareworthy, farrand, fieldfare, firk, flat fare, half fare, hellfare, higher intermediate fare, homefare, infare, Lenten fare, mistake fare, multifare, rail fare, railfare, return fare, seafare, standard fare, taxi fare, taxifare, the fewer the better fare, thoroughfare, to a fare thee well, warfare, welfare, workfare

fare

verb

Etymology From Middle English faren, from Old English faran (“to travel, journey”), from Proto-West Germanic *faran, from Proto-Germanic *faraną, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“a going, passage”). Cognate with West Frisian farre, Dutch varen (“to sail”), German fahren (“to travel”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fare, Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic fara (“to go”) and Swedish fara (“to travel”).

› Used to express evaluations [with adverbial…

To experience luck, fortune or treatment (of a certain kind).

She fared badly in the accident.
Did you fare well in the exam?

4 more examples

So fares the stag among the enraged hounds.1642, John Denham, Cooper's Hill:
There are many discomforting gaps in statistics about the book trades generally, but the reprint sector fares worst—it has no statistical summary or trend reports based on factual evidence.1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 8:
Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
While long-distance and commuter rail travel still fared well, train travel to seaside resorts was perhaps inevitably falling away.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wreccker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51:

To proceed or progress (in a certain way).

We will continue to monitor how the hurricane fares against projected models.
He was a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty was scrupulous about his diet at your table, excusing himself by saying that he must eat sparingly and fare hard, as became a soldier or one who was fitting himself for difficult enterprises, a life of exposure.1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown:

To happen or occur (in a certain way).

We shall see how it fares with him.
So fares it when with truth falsehood contends.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 3:

1 more example

Let me only say that it fared with him as with the storm-tossed ship, that miserably drives along the leeward land.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 23:

Archaic To go; to travel.

Behold! A knight fares forth.
[…]And fared like a furious wyld Beare, / Whose whelpes are stolne away, she being otherwhere.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

2 more examples

I know that this was Life,—the track ⁠Whereon with equal feet we fared; ⁠And then, as now, the day prepared The daily burden for the back.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 42:
Then he came down rejoicing and said, "I have seen what seemeth to be a city as 'twere a pigeon." Hereat we rejoiced and, ere an hour of the day had passed, the buildings showed plain in the offing and we asked the Captain, "What is the name of yonder city?" and he answered "By Allah I wot not, for I never saw it before and never sailed these seas in my life: but, since our troubles have ended in safety, remains for you only to land their with your merchandise and, if you find selling profitable, sell and make your market of what is there; and if not, we will rest here two days and provision ourselves and fare away.1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 17:

Archaic To eat; to dine.

There was a certain rich man which […] fared sumptuously every day.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:19:

Derived terms: afare, airfaring, farer, fare thee well, farewell, forfare, forthfare, illfare, misfare, nightfaring, overfare, seafaring, skyfaring, spacefaring, starfaring, wayfare, wayfaring, welfare, woefare

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