hare
/hɛː
/noun
1A fast-running, long-eared mammal that resembles a large rabbit, having very long hind legs and typically found in grassland or open woodland.
- Lepus and other genera, family Leporidae: several species.
- Three species of hares are native to California, the snowshoe, black-tailed, and white-tailed.
- He said: ‘I've noticed an increase in birds and a lot more hares since the grassland has been in place.’
1.1 (also electric hare) A dummy hare propelled around the track in greyhound racing.The Legend of the Mick the Miller is both touching and funny, yet Michael Tanner's tale of the greatest greyhound ever to chase a mechanical hare is ultimately flawed....
- And let's face it, you don't hear people at the greyhound track complaining that the hare's not real, do you?
- They are, essentially, a covered bike rack for dogs, designed to line them up and point them unarguably in the same direction ready for the key moment when the hare goes by.
verb [no object, with adverbial of direction] British
Run with great speed: he hared off between the trees...
- Mutu leaves Toure for dead, hares down the left wing and shoots from a narrow angle.
- Then Harry came haring out of the bathroom like some over-protective mother bear and just about bit my head off.
- He has already been haring about this morning, giving awards to schoolchildren and meeting with constituents.
Phrases
run with the hare and hunt with the hounds
start a hare
Origin
Old English hara, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch haas and German Hase.