AIRE, a strong town in the Netherlands, in the county of Artois, now the department of Pas de Calais, with a castle. It was taken by the French in 1710, and was confirmed to them by the treaty of Utrecht. It is seated on the river Lis, 22 miles south of Dunkirk, and communicates with St Omer's by a canal cut from the river Aa. E. Long. 2. 31. N. Lat. 50. 38.