*bear*

n. Behavior. [ Obs. ] Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior. [ Obs. ] Sir. T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) An edentate animal of tropical America (the Tamanoir), living on ants. It belongs to the genus Myrmecophaga. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who carries the armor or arms of another; an armiger. Judg. ix. 54. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. Bore formerly Bare ; p. p. Born Borne (bōrn); p. pr. & vb. n. Bearing. ] [ OE. beren, AS. beran, beoran, to bear, carry, produce; akin to D. baren to bring forth, G. gebären, Goth. baíran to bear or carry, Icel. bera, Sw. bära, Dan. bære, OHG. beran, peran, L. ferre to bear, carry, produce, Gr. fe`rein, OSlav. brati to take, carry, OIr. berim I bear, Skr. bh&rsdot_; to bear. √92. Cf. Fertile. ] 1. To support or sustain; to hold up. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To support and remove or carry; to convey. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll bear your logs the while. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To conduct; to bring; -- said of persons. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bear them to my house. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To possess and use, as power; to exercise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every man should bear rule in his own house. Esther i. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To sustain; to have on (written or inscribed, or as a mark), as, the tablet bears this inscription. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To possess or carry, as a mark of authority or distinction; to wear; as, to bear a sword, badge, or name. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To possess mentally; to carry or hold in the mind; to entertain; to harbor Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ancient grudge I bear him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To endure; to tolerate; to undergo; to suffer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Should such a man, too fond to rule alone,
Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

I cannot bear
The murmur of this lake to hear. Shelley. [ 1913 Webster ]

My punishment is greater than I can bear. Gen. iv. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To gain or win. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Some think to bear it by speaking a great word. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

She was . . . found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. To sustain, or be answerable for, as blame, expense, responsibility, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

He shall bear their iniquities. Is. liii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

Somewhat that will bear your charges. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. To render or give; to bring forward. “Your testimony bear” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. To carry on, or maintain; to have. “The credit of bearing a part in the conversation.” Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. To admit or be capable of; that is, to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change. [ 1913 Webster ]

In all criminal cases the most favorable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

14. To manage, wield, or direct. “Thus must thou thy body bear.” Shak. Hence: To behave; to conduct. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

15. To afford; to be to; to supply with. [ 1913 Webster ]

His faithful dog shall bear him company. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

16. To bring forth or produce; to yield; as, to bear apples; to bear children; to bear interest. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here dwelt the man divine whom Samos bore. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the passive form of this verb, the best modern usage restricts the past participle born to the sense of brought forth, while borne is used in the other senses of the word. In the active form, borne alone is used as the past participle. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bear down. (a) To force into a lower place; to carry down; to depress or sink. “His nose, . . . large as were the others, bore them down into insignificance.” Marryat. (b) To overthrow or crush by force; as, to bear down an enemy. --
To bear a hand. (a) To help; to give assistance. (b) (Naut.) To make haste; to be quick. --
To bear in hand, to keep (one) up in expectation, usually by promises never to be realized; to amuse by false pretenses; to delude. [ Obs. ] “How you were borne in hand, how crossed.” Shak. --
To bear in mind, to remember. --
To bear off. (a) To restrain; to keep from approach. (b) (Naut.) To remove to a distance; to keep clear from rubbing against anything; as, to bear off a blow; to bear off a boat. (c) To gain; to carry off, as a prize. (d) (Backgammon) To remove from the backgammon board into the home when the position of the piece and the dice provide the proper opportunity; -- the goal of the game is to bear off all of one's men before the opponent. --
To bear one hard, to owe one a grudge. [ Obs. ] “Cæsar doth bear me hard.” Shak. --
To bear out. (a) To maintain and support to the end; to defend to the last. “Company only can bear a man out in an ill thing.” South. (b) To corroborate; to confirm. --
To bear up, to support; to keep from falling or sinking. “Religious hope bears up the mind under sufferings.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To uphold; sustain; maintain; support; undergo; suffer; endure; tolerate; carry; convey; transport; waft. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To produce, as fruit; to be fruitful, in opposition to barrenness. [ 1913 Webster ]

This age to blossom, and the next to bear. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To suffer, as in carrying a burden. [ 1913 Webster ]

But man is born to bear. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To endure with patience; to be patient. [ 1913 Webster ]

I can not, can not bear. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To press; -- with on or upon, or against. [ 1913 Webster ]

These men bear hard on the suspected party. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To take effect; to have influence or force; as, to bring matters to bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To relate or refer; -- with on or upon; as, how does this bear on the question? [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To have a certain meaning, intent, or effect. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To be situated, as to the point of compass, with respect to something else; as, the land bears N. by E. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bear against, to approach for attack or seizure; as, a lion bears against his prey. [ Obs. ] --
To bear away (Naut.), to change the course of a ship, and make her run before the wind. --
To bear back, to retreat. “Bearing back from the blows of their sable antagonist.” Sir W. Scott. --
To bear down upon (Naut.), to approach from the windward side; as, the fleet bore down upon the enemy. --
To bear in with (Naut.), to run or tend toward; as, a ship bears in with the land. --
To bear off (Naut.), to steer away, as from land. --
To bear up. (a) To be supported; to have fortitude; to be firm; not to sink; as, to bear up under afflictions. (b) (Naut.) To put the helm up (or to windward) and so put the ship before the wind; to bear away. Hamersly. --
To bear upon (Mil.), to be pointed or situated so as to affect; to be pointed directly against, or so as to hit (the object); as, to bring or plant guns so as to bear upon a fort or a ship; the artillery bore upon the center. --
To bear up to, to tend or move toward; as, to bear up to one another. --
To bear with, to endure; to be indulgent to; to forbear to resent, oppose, or punish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bier. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bere, AS. bera; akin to D. beer, OHG. bero, pero, G. bär, Icel. & Sw. björn, and possibly to L. fera wild beast, Gr. fh`r beast, Skr. bhalla bear. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Zool.) Any species of the genus Ursus, and of the closely allied genera. Bears are plantigrade Carnivora, but they live largely on fruit and insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

The European brown bear (Ursus arctos), the white polar bear (Ursus maritimus), the grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis), the American black bear, and its variety the cinnamon bear (Ursus Americanus), the Syrian bear (Ursus Syriacus), and the sloth bear, are among the notable species. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) An animal which has some resemblance to a bear in form or habits, but no real affinity; as, the woolly bear; ant bear; water bear; sea bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Astron.) One of two constellations in the northern hemisphere, called respectively the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, or Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Metaphorically: A brutal, coarse, or morose person. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Stock Exchange) A person who sells stocks or securities for future delivery in expectation of a fall in the market. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The bears and bulls of the Stock Exchange, whose interest it is, the one to depress, and the other to raise, stocks, are said to be so called in allusion to the bear's habit of pulling down, and the bull's of tossing up. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mach.) A portable punching machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Naut.) A block covered with coarse matting; -- used to scour the deck. [ 1913 Webster ]

Australian bear. (Zool.) See Koala. --
Bear baiting, the sport of baiting bears with dogs. --
Bear caterpillar (Zool.), the hairy larva of a moth, esp. of the genus Euprepia. --
Bear garden. (a) A place where bears are kept for diversion or fighting. (b) Any place where riotous conduct is common or permitted. M. Arnold. --
Bear leader, one who leads about a performing bear for money; hence, a facetious term for one who takes charge of a young man on his travels. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Stock Exchange) To endeavor to depress the price of, or prices in; as, to bear a railroad stock; to bear the market. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being borne or endured; tolerable. -- Bear"a*bly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. (Bot.) A trailing plant of the heath family (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), having leaves which are tonic and astringent, and glossy red berries of which bears are said to be fond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an arboreal civet of Asia (Arctictis bintourong) having a long prehensile tail and shaggy black hair.
Syn. -- binturong. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. berd, AS. beard; akin to Fries. berd, D. baard, G. bart, Lith. barzda, OSlav. brada, Pol. broda, Russ. boroda, L. barba, W. barf. Cf. 1st Barb. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips, and adjacent parts of the human face, chiefly of male adults. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) The long hairs about the face in animals, as in the goat. (b) The cluster of small feathers at the base of the beak in some birds (c) The appendages to the jaw in some Cetacea, and to the mouth or jaws of some fishes. (d) The byssus of certain shellfish, as the muscle. (e) The gills of some bivalves, as the oyster. (f) In insects, the hairs of the labial palpi of moths and butterflies. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) Long or stiff hairs on a plant; the awn; as, the beard of grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow or other instrument, projecting backward to prevent the head from being easily drawn out. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That part of the under side of a horse's lower jaw which is above the chin, and bears the curb of a bridle. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Print.) That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. An imposition; a trick. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beard grass (Bot.), a coarse, perennial grass of different species of the genus Andropogon. --
To one's beard, to one's face; in open defiance. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bearded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bearding. ] 1. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard of (a man), in anger or contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance. [ 1913 Webster ]

No admiral, bearded by these corrupt and dissolute minions of the palace, dared to do more than mutter something about a court martial. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deprive of the gills; -- used only of oysters and similar shellfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a beard. “Bearded fellow.” Shak. “Bearded grain.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bearded vulture,
Bearded eagle. (Zool.) See Lammergeir. --
Bearded tortoise. (Zool.) See Matamata. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Beard, n. ] (Zool.) The bearded loach (Nemachilus barbatus) of Europe. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Without a beard. Hence: Not having arrived at puberty or manhood; youthful. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Destitute of an awn; as, beardless wheat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being destitute of beard. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. 1. devoting full strength and concentrated attention to.
Syn. -- determined. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries. “Bearers of burdens.” 2 Chron. ii. 18. “The bearer of unhappy news.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: One who assists in carrying a body to the grave; a pallbearer. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A palanquin carrier; also, a house servant. [ India ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A tree or plant yielding fruit; as, a good bearer. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Com.) One who holds a check, note, draft, or other order for the payment of money; as, pay to bearer. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Print.) A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page; also, a type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A man who tends a bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hound for baiting or hunting bears. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

I know him by his bearing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection. [ 1913 Webster ]

But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing; a tree past bearing. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ His mother ] in travail of his bearing. R. of Gloucester. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Arch.) (a) That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall. (b) The portion of a support on which anything rests. (c) Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mach.) (a) The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal. (b) The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Her.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl. [ 1913 Webster ]

A carriage covered with armorial bearings. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Naut.) (a) The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen; as, the bearing of the cape was W. N. W. (b) pl. The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer. (c) pl. The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ball bearings. See under Ball. --
To bring one to his bearings, to bring one to his senses. --
To lose one's bearings, to become bewildered. --
To take bearings, to ascertain by the compass the position of an object; to ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Deportment; gesture; mien; behavior; manner; carriage; demeanor; port; conduct; direction; relation; tendency; influence. [ 1913 Webster ]

A cloth with which a child is covered when carried to be baptized. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A short rein looped over the check hook or the hames to keep the horse's head up; -- called in the United States a checkrein. [ 1913 Webster ]

. In a balloon, the braced wooden ring attached to the suspension ropes at the bottom, functionally analogous to the keel of a ship. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. 1. Partaking of the qualities of a bear; resembling a bear in temper or manners. Harris. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Stock market) Fearful of or anticipating falling prices, as in the stock market; as, bearish sentiment inhibited buying. [ PJC ]

3. (Stock market) Tending to cause prices to fall. “bearish news about inflation caused a sharp drop in the Dow.” [ PJC ]

4. Hence: Pessimistic. [ PJC ]

n. Behavior like that of a bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A traffic jam caused by tourists stopping to look at bears near the road; -- a phenomenon once common in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. [ Colloq. ] [ PJC ]

n. See Bairn. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) The English cow parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium) Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a widely cultivated southern European acanthus (Acanthus mollis) with whitish purple-veined flowers. See Acanthus, n., 1.
Syn. -- bear's breech, bear's-breech, bear's breeches, sea holly. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) A kind of primrose (Primula auricula), so called from the shape of the leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A species of hellebore (Helleborus fœtidus), with digitate leaves. It has an offensive smell and acrid taste, and is a powerful emetic, cathartic, and anthelmintic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The skin of a bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A coarse, shaggy, woolen cloth for overcoats. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A cap made of bearskin, esp. one worn by soldiers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A large bivalve shell of the East Indies (Hippopus maculatus), often used as an ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

. Arkansas; -- a nickname, from the many bears once inhabiting its forests. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Engin.) A kind of movable dam, in one form consisting of two leaves resting against each other at the top when raised and folding down one over the other when lowered, for deepening shallow parts in a river. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Bear + ward a keeper. ] A keeper of bears. See Bearherd. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) A Brazilian leaf hopper (Bocydium tintinnabuliferum), remarkable for the four bell-shaped appendages of its thorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ AS. bere. See Barley. ] (Bot.) Barley; the six-rowed barley or the four-rowed barley, commonly the former (Hordeum hexastichon or Hordeum vulgare). [ Obs. except in North of Eng. and Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The hero of a mediæval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which no eye but his own must look. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Bugaboo. -- a. Causing needless fright. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To alarm with idle phantoms. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Bug. ] Something frightful, as a specter; anything imaginary that causes needless fright; something used to excite needless fear; also, something really dangerous, or an imaginary monster, used to frighten children, etc. “Bugaboos to fright ye.” Lloyd. [ 1913 Webster ]

But, to the world no bugbear is so great
As want of figure and a small estate. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bugaboo of the liberals is the church pray. S. B. Griffin. [ 1913 Webster ]

The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. J. Burroughs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a source of concern; as, the old bugaboo of inflation still bothers them. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Syn. -- Hobgoblin; goblin; specter; ogre; scarecrow; bogeyman; boogeyman; booger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of producing or bringing forth children; parturition. Milton. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (R.C.Ch.) A subdeacon who bears a cross before an archbishop or primate on solemn occasions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any plant of the genus Verbesina having clustered white or yellow flower heads.
Syn. -- crown beard. [ WordNet 1.5 ]