arctic bear

plural arctic bears

1. obsoleteA polar bear.

   Still nearer the pole, the arctic bear reigns the mighty tyrant of the frozen solitude.

   1824, Time's Telescope for 1824 ; Or, A Complete Guide to the Almanack, page ci

   3 more examples

   In the front parlour, was an immense arctic bear, of a white colour, and a winged animal, much injured by time, but which appeared to have been an eagle.

   1826, The Percy anecdotes - Volume 10, page 123

   The white bear, polar bear, or arctic bear, (Ursus maritimus, or Ursus arcticus), is a migrating animal.

   1832 -, The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia - Volume 10, page 103

   The species of man in the temperate zone are not, like arctic bears or bears of Borneo, confined to any province.

   1860, A Familiar Forensic View of Man and Law, page 70

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Arctic, bear.

   1 more example

   Bears are the largest living carnivores, and the two largest species, polar bears and grizzly bears, are both inhabitants of the Arctic. [...] In open country, with nowhere to hide, attack is the obvious method of defense, especailly for animals with the speed and enormous strength of the two arctic bears.

   2012, E. C. Pielou, A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic, →ISBN, page 257

plural Arctic bears

1. A polar bear.

   Further, the terrestrial niche for an Arctic bear is already occupied and there are indications that barren-ground grizzlies are already advancing northward.

   2012, Michael MacCracken, Sudden and Disruptive Climate Change, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Upon coming up with the floe, we perceived that it was in possession of a gigantic creature of the race of the Arctic bear, but far exceeding in size the largest of these animals.

   1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XVII, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 146

   I once before compared the posterior aspect of the Arctic bear to an elephant's. All my mess-mates used the same comparison. The extreme roundness of his back and haunches, with the columnar character of the legs, and the round expansion of the feet, give you the impression of a small elephant.

   2009, Elisha Kent Kane, Adrift in the Arctic Ice Pack, →ISBN, page 64

2. Any bear that lives in the Arctic.