mirel (mir)

[ He [the parson) sette not hys benefice to hyre, And leet his scheep encombred in the myre. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T. (ed. Morris), l. 508. Ps. lxix. 2. I sink in deep mire , where there is no standing. 2. Filth. Dun in the mire. See dun1. mirel (mir), v.; pre pret. and pp. mired, ppr. miring. [ mire; set or stall in mud; sink in mud or in a mora . Nor do I believe that there is a single instance of a skeleton of one of the extinct mammifers having been found in an upright position, as if it had been mired . Darwin, Geol. Observations, ii. 351. 2. To soil or daub with slimy mud or foul matter. Smirch'd thus, and mired with infamy. Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 135. Harpies miring every dish. Tennyson , Lucretius. II. in trans. To sink in mud; especially, to sink so deep as to be unable to move forward; stick in the mud. Paint till a horse may mire upon your face. Shak ., T. of A., iv. 3. 147.