The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mire \Mire\ (m[imac]r), n. [AS. m[imac]re, m[=y]re; akin to D.
   mier, Icel. maurr, Dan. myre, Sw. myra; cf. also Ir. moirbh,
   Gr. my`rmhx.]
   An ant. [Obs.] See Pismire.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mire \Mire\, n. [OE. mire, myre; akin to Icel. m?rr swamp, Sw.
   myra marshy ground, and perh. to E. moss.]
   Deep mud; wet, spongy earth. --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

         He his rider from the lofty steed
         Would have cast down and trod in dirty mire. --Spenser.
   [1913 Webster]

   Mire crow (Zool.), the pewit, or laughing gull. [Prov.
      Eng.]

   Mire drum, the European bittern. [Prov. Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mire \Mire\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mired (m[imac]rd); p. pr. &
   vb. n. Miring.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To cause or permit to stick fast in mire; to plunge or fix
      in mud; as, to mire a horse or wagon.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence: To stick or entangle; to involve in difficulties;
      -- often used in the passive or predicate form; as, we got
      mired in bureaucratic red tape and it took years longer
      than planned.
      [PJC]

   3. To soil with mud or foul matter.
      [1913 Webster]

            Smirched thus and mired with infamy.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Mire \Mire\, v. i.
   To stick in mire. --Shak.
   [1913 Webster] Mirific

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

mire
    n 1: a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
         [syn: mire, quagmire, quag, morass, slack]
    2: deep soft mud in water or slush; "they waded through the
       slop" [syn: slop, mire]
    3: a difficulty or embarrassment that is hard to extricate
       yourself from; "the country is still trying to climb out of
       the mire left by its previous president"; "caught in the mire
       of poverty"
    v 1: entrap; "Our people should not be mired in the past" [syn:
         entangle, mire]
    2: cause to get stuck as if in a mire; "The mud mired our cart"
       [syn: mire, bog down]
    3: be unable to move further; "The car bogged down in the sand"
       [syn: grind to a halt, get stuck, bog down, mire]
    4: soil with mud, muck, or mire; "The child mucked up his shirt
       while playing ball in the garden" [syn: mire, muck,
       mud, muck up]