ware

Multiple Entries:
  ware    -ware  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ware1 /wɛː/

▶noun

• 1 pottery, typically that of a specified type.

  ■ manufactured articles of a specified type.

• 2 (wares) articles offered for sale.

– origin OE waru ‘commodities’, of Gmc origin, perh. the same word as Scots ware ‘cautiousness’, with the sense ‘object of care’; rel. to ware3.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ware2 /wɛː/ (also 'ware)

▶verb beware (used as a warning cry).

– origin OE warian ‘be on one's guard’, from a Gmc base meaning ‘observe, take care’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ware3 /wɛː/

▶adjective archaic aware.

– origin OE wær, from the Gmc base of ware2.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-ware /wɛː/

▶combining form

• 1 denoting articles made of ceramic or used in cooking and serving food: tableware.

• 2 denoting a kind of software: groupware.