mere (2), moare, meer, meere

[A. S. mære, gemære; Dut. meer; Icel. mærr.] A boundary, a border; a boundary-stone. *mëre, *mear, v . t . [MERE (2), s.] To bound, to limit, to divide "That brave honor of the Latine name, Which meared her rule with Africa and Byze." Spenser: Ruines of Rome , xxii. *mëred, a. [MERE, a.] Entire, sole, only. "At such a point, When half to half the world opposed, he being The mered question." Shakesp.: Antony and Cleopatra , iii. 11. mëre'-lỹ, *meere-ly, *meer-ly, adv . [English mere, a.; -ly.] Purely, only, solely, simply. It separates that which it designates and qualifies from everything else. But in so doing, the chief or most emphatic reference may be made either to that which is included, or to that which is excluded. In Modern English it is always to the latter. In Shakespeare's day the other reference was more common, that, namely, to which was included(1) Merely, referring to what is included rather than what is excluded; absolutely, entirely, quite, utterly. "Fye on't! O fye! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gro in nature, Po e it merely." Shakesp.: Hamlet ., i. 2. (2) Solely, only; for this and nothing more; in this and no other way. "Never to remove an anomaly merely because it is an anomaly." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xi.