dares

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dare.

   The young apprentice dares to challenge the master's methods.

   Whoever dares the climb in winter risks the unstable ice.

   Note

   One spelling covers three different constructions. With a to-infinitive it means having the nerve (she dares to speak). With a person and an infinitive it becomes a challenge (he dares his brother to jump). With a plain object it means facing something down (whoever dares the climb). An archaic hunting use, scaring larks to the ground so they could be netted, also took a direct object.

   She dares to speak when everyone else stays silent.

   He dares his little brother to jump into the cold lake.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of dare.

   The party game involved a series of increasingly reckless dares.

   He accepted both dares without a second thought.

   Note

   A plural that belongs to the countable uses of the noun: challenges set to prove someone's courage, including the ones handed out in truth or dare. Boldness as a quality is seldom counted, so the plural almost always means individual challenges. The same spelling also serves as the plural of an old name for the dace, a small fish, and it doubles as the verb form in "he dares".

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