daresay

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See also: dare say

English

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WOTD – 22 December 2020

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From dare say: dare (“to have enough courage (to do something)”) +‎ say.[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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daresay (third-person singular simple present daresays, present participle daresaying, simple past and past participle daresayed or daresaid)

  1. (intransitive, archaic, originally) Chiefly in the form I daresay: to say something boldly; to affirm or assert.
    • 1834 January 29, Patrick Shaw, Alexander Dunlop, J. M. Bell, reporters, “John Adamson, Advocator.—Skene—Outram. Walter Adamson, Respondent.—Jameson—Christison.”, in Cases Decided in the Court of Session, from Nov. 12, 1833, to July 29, 1834, volume XII, Edinburgh: […] Thomas Clark, […]; London: Saunders and Benning, →OCLC, page 362:
      [H]e daresays he has had conversations with Goodfellow after the sale of the property, and Goodfellow seemed satisfied that the declarant was to get payment of his money.
  2. (intransitive, by extension) Chiefly in the form I daresay: to venture to say (as the speaker believes something is likely to be the case); to think something probable; to presume.
    Are you going to stay up all night? I daresay that I am.
    • 1843, Ellen Pickering, chapter II, in The Grumbler; […], volume II, London: T[homas] C[autley] Newby, 65, Mortimer St. Cavendish Sq., →OCLC, page 53:
      You daresay, Blanche. Ay, that is always the way; everybody daresay. Mrs. Grainger and John daresaid I should not miss Thomas, who is gone home for a week to get strong again after the ague, but I shall. Then they daresaid I should like his cousin Richard, who takes his place, just as well; but I shall not.
    • 1865, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “‘And I—What I Seem to My Friend, You See!’”, in Sir Jasper’s Tenant […], volume III, London: John Maxwell and Company […], →OCLC, page 117:
      [S]he has more money than she can know what to do with; but she's as mean as she can well be. However, when she knows my position is desperate, she'll shell out handsomely, I daresay.
    • 1870 February–March, David Leslie, “Wild Life in South Africa”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Drummond, editor, Among the Zulus and Amatongas: With Sketches of the Natives, Their Language and Customs; and the Country, Products, Climate, Wild Animals, &c. […], Glasgow: […] W[illiam] Gilchrist, […], published 1875, →OCLC, section VI (A Night Round the Fire), page 132:
      [H]e brings out a crumpled piece of paper, and displays it in approved Dr. Marigold style, "Here's what the arsenic or strychnine was in, but now it is mixed with the dishes, knives, forks, spoons, biscuits, beef, &c.; in fact, our pantry and store-room are worse than a score of Pritchard's." Grand chorus, reprobatory of Max, who takes it very coolly, and says he daresays Dick has just spilt it, "his fingers being all thumbs," but never to mind, as he won't use any of the things till he has cleaned out the chest.
    • 1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Wool and Water”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 100:
      Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." / "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!"
    • 1873, [Margaret] Oliphant, “The Gathering of the Storm”, in Innocent: A Tale of Modern Life. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, […], →OCLC, page 178:
      I daresay he's got other things to think of. I'll set all that right to-morrow.
    • 1883 November, Alan Muir, “‘Golden Girls.’ A Picture-gallery.”, in London Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the Hours of Relaxation, volume XLIV, number CCLXIII, London: Robson and Sons […], →OCLC, chapter LXV (Which Begins with Collision and Ends with Explosion), page 531, column 2:
      Daniel daresays he could get five thousand or more for the piece if he tried.
    • 1901, E[dith] Nesbit, “Being Beavers; or, The Young Explorers (Arctic or Otherwise)”, in The Wouldbegoods […], London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], →OCLC, page 155:
      We did not take any notice of what he said, but just kept on saying how sorry we were; and he did not take our apology like a man, but only said he daresayed, just like a woman does.
    • 1964, Joan Aiken, Black Hearts in Battersea, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, published 1992, →ISBN, page 135:
      The showman gave Simon ten shillings ("I daresay it's worth three times as much" muttered Justin) and he spent it on doughnuts for the whole party and a visit to the fire-breathing dragon (where Dido disgraced them by tiptoeing around to the back and discovering a little man in the dragon's stomach producing jets of steam by means of a boiling kettle).
    • 1979, Ernest Hebert, “The .308”, in The Dogs of March (Hardscrabble Books), Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, published 1995, →ISBN, page 20:
      "I daresay," Howard said, pacing, holding his bandaged hand in the palm of his good hand. "I daresay …" He wanted to say something about their early love. "I daresay," he began for the third time. / "Stop daresaying and start saying," Elenore said, impatient.
    • 2014, Donna Douglas, chapter 20, in Nightingales on Call (Nightingales; 4), London: Arrow Books, Random House, →ISBN, page 189:
      And I daresay you fancy he's fallen for you, too. But he's not like the farm hands in the village, Effie. You can't just twist him round your little finger.

Usage notes

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “dare say” under “dare, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1894; “I dare say, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

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