See mare's nest on Wiktionary
{ "etymology_text": "Alteration of earlier horse's nest, from the fanciful and unlikely notion that horses make nests.", "forms": [ { "form": "mare's nests", "tags": [ "plural" ] }, { "form": "mares' nests", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": { "1": "s", "2": "mares' nests" }, "expansion": "mare's nest (plural mare's nests or mares' nests)", "name": "en-noun" }, { "args": { "1": "en", "2": "figurative" }, "expansion": "(figurative)", "name": "tlb" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "senses": [ { "categories": [ { "_dis": "70 30", "kind": "other", "name": "English entries with incorrect language header", "parents": [], "source": "w+disamb" }, { "_dis": "80 20", "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with 1 entry", "parents": [], "source": "w+disamb" }, { "_dis": "81 19", "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with entries", "parents": [], "source": "w+disamb" } ], "examples": [ { "text": "Near-synonyms: bullshit, horseshit" }, { "ref": "c. 1620, John Fletcher (playwright), Bonduca, V.2", "text": "Why dost thou laugh? What Mares nest hast thou found?" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 71, 82 ] ], "ref": "1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 32:", "text": "“Rubbish!” cried Lawrence angrily. “In my opinion the whole thing is a mare’s nest of Bauerstein’s! Wilkins hadn’t an idea of such a thing, until Bauerstein put it into his head. But, like all specialists, Bauerstein’s got a bee in his bonnet. Poisons are his hobby, so of course he sees them everywhere.”", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A great discovery which turns out to be illusory; especially, a hoax." ], "id": "en-mare's_nest-en-noun-en:illusory_discovery__especially__a_hoax", "links": [ [ "illusory", "illusory" ], [ "hoax", "hoax" ] ], "senseid": [ "en:illusory discovery, especially, a hoax" ], "tags": [ "figuratively" ] }, { "categories": [], "examples": [ { "text": "Coordinate term: boar's nest" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 106, 117 ] ], "ref": "2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 277:", "text": "Though Chancellor Maupeou had supported the idea of a trial [...], the legal proceedings developed into a mare's nest of accusations and counter-accusations.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A confused or complicated situation; a muddle." ], "id": "en-mare's_nest-en-noun-en:complicated_mess", "links": [ [ "confused", "confused" ], [ "complicated", "complicated" ], [ "muddle", "muddle" ] ], "related": [ { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "blinker fluid" }, { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "muffler bearing" }, { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "fool's gold" }, { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "hen's tooth" }, { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "rocking horse shit" }, { "_dis1": "30 70", "word": "snark" } ], "senseid": [ "en:complicated mess" ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "rat's nest" } ], "tags": [ "figuratively" ] } ], "sounds": [ { "ipa": "/ˈmɛːz nɛst/", "tags": [ "UK" ] }, { "audio": "en-au-mare's nest.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg" } ], "wikipedia": [ "mare's nest" ], "word": "mare's nest" }
{ "categories": [ "English countable nouns", "English entries with incorrect language header", "English lemmas", "English multiword terms", "English nouns", "Pages with 1 entry", "Pages with entries" ], "etymology_text": "Alteration of earlier horse's nest, from the fanciful and unlikely notion that horses make nests.", "forms": [ { "form": "mare's nests", "tags": [ "plural" ] }, { "form": "mares' nests", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": { "1": "s", "2": "mares' nests" }, "expansion": "mare's nest (plural mare's nests or mares' nests)", "name": "en-noun" }, { "args": { "1": "en", "2": "figurative" }, "expansion": "(figurative)", "name": "tlb" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "related": [ { "word": "blinker fluid" }, { "word": "muffler bearing" }, { "word": "fool's gold" }, { "word": "hen's tooth" }, { "word": "rocking horse shit" }, { "word": "snark" } ], "senses": [ { "categories": [ "English terms with quotations" ], "examples": [ { "text": "Near-synonyms: bullshit, horseshit" }, { "ref": "c. 1620, John Fletcher (playwright), Bonduca, V.2", "text": "Why dost thou laugh? What Mares nest hast thou found?" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 71, 82 ] ], "ref": "1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 32:", "text": "“Rubbish!” cried Lawrence angrily. “In my opinion the whole thing is a mare’s nest of Bauerstein’s! Wilkins hadn’t an idea of such a thing, until Bauerstein put it into his head. But, like all specialists, Bauerstein’s got a bee in his bonnet. Poisons are his hobby, so of course he sees them everywhere.”", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A great discovery which turns out to be illusory; especially, a hoax." ], "links": [ [ "illusory", "illusory" ], [ "hoax", "hoax" ] ], "senseid": [ "en:illusory discovery, especially, a hoax" ], "tags": [ "figuratively" ] }, { "categories": [ "English terms with quotations", "Quotation templates to be cleaned" ], "examples": [ { "text": "Coordinate term: boar's nest" }, { "bold_text_offsets": [ [ 106, 117 ] ], "ref": "2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 277:", "text": "Though Chancellor Maupeou had supported the idea of a trial [...], the legal proceedings developed into a mare's nest of accusations and counter-accusations.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "A confused or complicated situation; a muddle." ], "links": [ [ "confused", "confused" ], [ "complicated", "complicated" ], [ "muddle", "muddle" ] ], "senseid": [ "en:complicated mess" ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "rat's nest" } ], "tags": [ "figuratively" ] } ], "sounds": [ { "ipa": "/ˈmɛːz nɛst/", "tags": [ "UK" ] }, { "audio": "en-au-mare's nest.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/En-au-mare%27s_nest.ogg" } ], "wikipedia": [ "mare's nest" ], "word": "mare's nest" }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-01 using wiktextract (142890b and 1d3fdbf). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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