mars

1. indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of mar

1. pluralplural of mar

plural rare Marses

1. uncountableusuallyastronomyThe fourth planet in the solar system. Symbol: ♂

   Mars has two moons, Deimos and Phobos.

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   ‘There’s another one. There can’t be two Marses,’ said Phyllis. / And sure enough there was. A smaller red point, a little up from, and to the right of, the first.

   1953, John Wyndham [pseudonym; John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris], “Phase One”, in The Kraken Wakes, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd, published 1966, page 12

   Well, see, we’re building a steam-driven solar system from a kit. (Cheaper than the Japanese miniaturized, transistorized models, which have two Marses and no Earth sometimes.)

   1964 November 30, Philip K[indred] Dick, “[To Carol Carr]”, in The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick, volume 1 (1938–1971), Grass Valley, Calif.: Underwood Books, published 1996, →ISBN, page 136

   The planet Mars, seen by Cro-Magnon eyes, presumably was a blue summer world with air and water. Winter Mars, seen by modem man, a red ice-capped desert. Two Marses coincided briefly in his mind’s eye, then rushed apart into endless cycles of Red and Blue … Human fingers intended to halt Mars at the moment of perfection, and hold a whole world there!

   1977, Ian Watson, “Mummy-cloth”, in The Martian Inca, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, section four, page 47

   With its Mars-like landscape, visiting Gurbantunggut Desert feels like escaping to another world.

   2018 September 22, Marissa Carruthers, “Five of the best places to go off grid in Asia, get back to nature and away from office phone calls”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 23 Sep 2018, Travel & Leisure

   Dans added: “We talk about outer space and trips to Mars and then when you realise Nuuk is a three-hour flight from New York City, or thereabouts, it gets interesting.”

   2025 March 8, Miranda Bryant, quoting Tom Dans, “‘It’s very unpredictable’: divided Greenland prepares to vote amid Trump-inspired existential crisis”, in The Observer, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2025

2. Romanuncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe Roman god of war.

   Near-synonym: Ares (Greek counterpart)

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   Mars was the lover of Venus, and together they had a daughter called Harmonia.

   Synonyms: Ares

3. countablepoeticusuallyplural MarsesWar, personified.

   In the first half of the twentieth century, Mars devastated Europe.

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   Mars rode upon the storm of horror and drank his fill of pain and blood. When the Serbian Army retreated before the foe, four times its own strength, it went backward facing the enemy and fighting every step of the way.

   1918, Ruth Stanley Farnam, A Nation at Bay: What an American Woman Saw and Did in Suffering Serbia, page 57

   A relieved world then will eagerly turn to the task of reclaiming the destruction wrought by Mars ... A tremendous task, filled with infinite possibilities ... A profitable task, according to how well you are prepared to do your part in the rehabilitation ...

   1944, McGraw-Hill, Engineering and Mining Journal, volume 145, page 54

   The plague, inevitable companion of Mars, ravaged the populace.

   1975, Helen Diane Russell, Jeffrey Blanchard, Jacques Callot: Prints & Related Drawings, Issue 21, page 10

1. rareuncountablegovernmentGules (red), in the postmedieval practice of blazoning the tinctures of certain sovereigns' (especially British monarchs') coats as planets.

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   4. Luna, a Mantle of Estate, Mars doubled Ermine, ouched Sol, garnished with Strings fastned thereunto fretways dependent, and tasselled of the same. [...] These Arms do belong to the Town of Beckbock in Wales. 5. Jupiter, a Mace of Majestry in Bend Sol. [...] 12. Venus, a Staff in Pale Sol, and thereupon a Cross Pattee, Luna surmounted off a Pall of the last, charged with 4. like Crosses fitched Saturn, edged and stringed as the second. This Coat belongs to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury, to whose place it appertains to Crown and Inaugurate the Kings of England.

   1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, in two parts ... second edition ..., pages 76-77

   George [...] Ist. Mars, three Lions passant guardant in Pale Sol, for the Arms of England, Impal'd with Scotland, i.e. Sol, a Lion rampant within a double Tressure counterflory Mars. 2d. Jupiter, three Fleurs de Lis Sol, for the Arms of France. 3d. Jupiter, an Irish Harp Sol, stringed Luna, for Ireland. 4th. Seme party per Pale, and per Chevron enarche, in the Ist Mars, two Lions passant guardant Sol, for Brunswick. In the 2d Partition Sol, semy of Hearts Mars, and a Lion rampant Jupiter, armed and langued of the First, for Luneburg. The base is Mars, a Horse currant Luna, over these last on an Inescocheon, Constantine's Crown. All within the Garter. Above the whole a Helmet suitable to his Majesty's Royal Jurisdiction, upon the same a rich Mantle of Cloth of Gold, doubled Ermine, a[…]

   1718, Samuel Kent, The Grammar of Heraldry … Second Edition

   8. Tierce in Mantle, first Mars, two Lions passant-guardant in pale, Sol, for Brunswick; 2d Sol, Semi of Hearts proper, a Lion rampant Jupiter, for Lunenburgh; 3d, ente en Point, Mars, an Horse currant Luna, for Saxony. Note, these Ensigns (which are the paternal Coat of his Majesty King George) I have added as an Example, to shew the Form of what foreign Heralds term Tierce in Mantle, ente en Pointe, &c. […]

   1735, Francis Nichols, The Irish Compendium … vol. III of the British Compendium, second edition, page 80

   ARMS. QUARTERLY, in the first grand Quarter Mars, three Lions passant-guardant in Pale, Sol; the Imperial Ensigns of England, impaled with the Royal Arms of Scotland, which are Sol, a Lion rampant within a double Tressure flower'd and counterflower'd with Fleurs-de-lis, Mars. The second Quarter is the Royal Arms of France, viz. Jupiter, three Fleurs-de-lis, Sol. The third, the Ensign of Ireland, which is, Jupiter, an Harp Sol, stringed Luna.

   1737, Benjamin Martin, Bibliotheca Technologica: Or, a Philological Library, page 631

2. obsoleteuncountablealchemyIron.

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   The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate).

   2013, John Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry

plural Marses

1. A surname.

   Florence Mars, a diminutive woman barely five feet tall, seemed an unlikely candidate for the defiant role she assumed. She was born on Jan. 1, 1923, to Adam Longino Mars, a lawyer, and Emily Geneva Johnson Mars, known as Neva.

   2006 April 29, Nadine Brozan, “Florence L[atimer] Mars, 83, Who Was Spurned for Rights Work, Dies”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Nov 2020

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   At a luncheon given yesterday at the Park Lane by Andrew H. Mars of Brooklyn for the Misses Marjorie Heather and Miriam Snyder, announcement was made of the engagement of his daughter, Miss Gladys L. Mars, to H. Grell Powers of this city.

   1929 November 21, “Miss Mars to Wed H. Grell Powers: Her Troth to New Yorker Is Announced by Her Father at a Luncheon at Park Lane. […]”, in The New York Times, volume LXXIX, number 26,234, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2025, page 23, column 6

   The economic troubles are compounded by the recent falling-out between the fort’s longtime executive director, Nicholas Westbrook, and benefactors the fort had come to rely upon: Forrest E[dward] Mars Jr. and his wife, Deborah Clarke Mars, a Ticonderoga native. […] While some 500 people made donations to the $23 million construction project, which included the new education center and upgrading utilities throughout the fort, the Marses contributed well over half the cost.

   2008 September 3, Lisa W. Foderaro, “Historic Fort Sustains a Breach”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2018

2. A brand of chocolate bar with caramel and nougat filling.

   A man who caused an online storm when he found a Mars bar without its signature ripple has received £2 in compensation.

   2024 November 30, Nathan Briant, “Man who found smooth Mars bar gets £2 compensation”, in BBC, archived from the original on 16 Jan 2025

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   Easily eight foot tall, each was big, brown and glutinous - like giant Mars Bars squeezed and welded into nightmarish sculptures.

   1985, Michael Collier, Longest Day, page 206

   Meg eyed the five cubicles, each with its curtain drawn. “Which one is he in?” ¶ “Three. Once I’d treated him to a Mars and a bottle of Fanta, he seemed happy enough to wait.”

   2015, Cari Hunter, No Good Reason, Valley Falls, N.Y.: Bold Strokes Books, →ISBN, page 232

1. A village in Semenivka urban hromada, Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine.

1. alternativeAlternative form of Mas.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Military Auxiliary Radio System.
2. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

plural MARSes

1. abbreviationAbbreviation of multicast address resolution server.