sir

plural sirs · alternative India saar · alternative ser

1. A man of a higher rank or position.
2. A respectful term of address to a man of higher rank or position, particularly

   1 more example

   Jeeves: Foreign travel often liberates emotions best kept in check, sir. The air of North America is notoriously stimulating in this regard, as witness the regrettable behavior of its inhabitants in 1776. B. Wooster: Hm? What happened in 1776, Jeeves? Jeeves: I prefer not to dwell on it, if it's convenient to you, sir.

   1991 May 12, “Kidnapped!”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5

3. A respectful term of address to a man of higher rank or position
   1. to a knight or other low member of the peerage.

      Just be careful. He gets whingy now if you don't address him as Sir John.

   2. to a superior military officer.

      Sir, yes sir.

   3. to a teacher.

      Here's my report, sir.

4. A respectful term of address to an adult male (often older), especially if his name or proper title is unknown.

   Excuse me, sir, do you know the way to the art museum?

   1 more example

   Knowledge, sir, should be free to all!

   1967 November 3, I, Mudd (Star Trek) (Science Fiction), Roger C. Carmel (actor), Paramount Domestic Television

present singular third person sirs · participle present sirring · participle past sirred · past sirred · alternative India saar · alternative ser

1. informaltransitiveTo address another individual using "sir".

   Sir, yes, sir! —Don't you sir me, private! I work for a living!

   1 more example

   Don't "Sir" me, young man, you have no idea who you're dealing with!

   1997, Ed Solomon, Men in Black, spoken by Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones)

plural Sirs

1. Alternative letter-case form of sir.

   The family tree boasts an astonishing array of celebrated historical figures from the prophet Isaiah to Sir Isaiah Berlin, from Felix Mendelssohn to Karl Marx and Moses Montefiore. The list also includes Yehudi Menuhin, Helena Rubinstein, the Rothschilds and even Rosenstein himself.

   2004 October 24, Bill Gladstone, “The oldest family in the world”, in Jewish Telegraphic Agency

   1 more example

   “Every minute,” continued M. Krempe with warmth, “every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems, and useless names. Good God! in what desert land have you lived, where no one was kind enough to inform you that these fancies, which you have so greedily imbibed, are a thousand years old, and as musty as they are ancient? I little expected in this enlightened and scientific age to find a disciple of Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus. My dear Sir, you must begin your studies entirely anew.”

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 69–70

2. UKThe titular prefix given to a knight or baronet.
3. PhilippinescolloquialinformalA respectful term of address or reference to a man of higher rank or position before the man's given name or nickname.

1. alternativeAlternative form of Syr.

   The Kara-tau, or "Black Mountain," the last spur of the Tian-shan towards the north-west, seldom exceeds 6,500 feet in height, but is geographically of great importance, as forming the water-parting between the Sir and Chu basins. It also abounds most in coal, iron, copper, and argentiferous lead.

   1884, Élisée Reclus, translated by Ernest George Ravenstein et al., The Earth and Its Inhabitants, Vol. VI, p. 187

plural SIRs

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablebusinessInitialism of surface insulation resistance.
2. abbreviationcountableuncountablebiochemistryAbbreviation of silent information regulator.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Special Intensive Revision, a voter-roll revision process in India.

   1 more example

   The Kerala government has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission (EC) of India to defer the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls of the State. The State said the conduct of the “cumbersome” SIR process from November 4 to December 4 would coincide with the elections to the local bodies in Kerala. The simultaneous conduct of both exercises would not only strain human resource but also create an “administrative impasse” with no personnel left to take care of the day-to-day functioning of the government. The government said the simultaneous conduct of the SIR and the local body elections would be an “near- impossibility”.

   2025 November 18, Krishnadas Rajagopal, “Kerala approaches Supreme Court to postpone Special Intensive Revision. The State said the 'cumbersome' SIR will coincide with the local bodies election and there are no human resources to conduct SIR and local bodies poll simultaneously”, in The Hindu

1. abbreviationinitialismnot comparableepidemiologyInitialism of susceptible-infected/infectious-removed/recovered.