bear

plural bears · alternative obsolete beare

1. countableuncountableA large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous) of the family Ursidae; having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and flat feet.
   1. uncountablecookingThe meat of this animal.

      We had barbecued bear for dinner.

2. countablefigurativelyuncountableA rough, unmannerly, uncouth person.First known use 1579

   1 more example

   One evening about this time, when his Lordship did me the honour to sup at my lodgings with Dr. Robertson and several other men of literary distinction, he regretted that Johnson had not been educated with more refinement, and lived more in polished society. 'No, no, my Lord, (said Signor Baretti,) do with him what you would, he would always have been a bear.'

   1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson

   Synonyms: troublemaker

3. countableuncountablebusinessAn investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices.First known use 1744

   1 more example

   This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]

   1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64

   Antonyms: bull

4. UScountableslanguncountableCB radioA state policeman (short for Smokey Bear).First known use 1970s

   'The bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,' reported someone else.

   1976 June, CB Magazine, Oklahoma City: Communications Publication Corporation, June 40/3

   2 more examples

   By the time we got into Tulsa Town We had eighty-five trucks in all But there's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf And them bears was wall-to-wall. Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper They even had a bear in the air. I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck. We about to go a-huntin' bear."

   1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall

   He was listening for reports of Kojaks with Kodaks, or bear sightings (cop alerts) at his front door (ahead of him), especially plain wrappers (unmarked police cars) parked at specific yardsticks (mile-markers) taking pictures […]

   2015, Matt Cashion, Last Words of the Holy Ghost, page 85

   Synonyms: police officer

5. countableslanguncountableLGBTA large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual.First known use c. 1970

   Bears are usually hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats.

   [1979 July 26, George Mazzei, “Who's Who in the Zoo?: A Glossary of Gay Animals”, in Robert I. McQueen, editor, The Advocate, number 272, Liberation Publications, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2014, page 42

   3 more examples

   Bear sought by masculine white male, 30, 5'8", 165 lbs, for weekly safe encounter. I'm in a long-term relationship and seek outside fun. You: tall, masculine, over 200 lbs, discreet, moustache.

   1990 December 9, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 12

   I have everything it takes to be a bear: broad shoulders, full beard, semibald pate, and lots of body hair. But I don't want to be a fetish.

   2004 April 27, Richard Goldstein, “Why I'm Not a Bear”, in The Advocate, number 913, page 72

   There are numerous social organizations for bears in most parts of the United States. Lesbians don't have such prominent sexual subcultures as gay men, although, as just mentioned, some lesbians are into BDSM practices.

   2006, Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, Human sexuality

   Antonyms: twink

6. AustraliacountableuncountableA koala (bear).

   Bunyip Bluegum was a tidy bear, he objected to whisker soup[.]

   1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 8

7. countableuncountableengineeringA portable punching machine.
8. countableuncountablenauticalA block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.
9. countableuncountablecartomancyThe fifteenth Lenormand card.
10. UScolloquialcountableuncountableSomething difficult or tiresome; a burden or chore.

    That window can be a bear to open.

    1 more example

    "This was a real bear to refinish. You can't believe how hard it was right here to get a thousand years of crud out of this carving."

    2014, Joe Buda, Pilgrims' Passage: Into a New Millennium; Rebuilding the Past

present singular third person bears · participle present bearing · participle past beared · past beared · alternative obsolete beare

1. transitivebusinessTo endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in.

   to bear the market

   1 more example

   to bear a railroad stock

alternative obsolete beare

1. not comparableinvestmentsbusinessCharacterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall.

   The great bear market starting in 1929 scared a whole generation of investors.

present singular third person bears · participle present bearing · past bore · archaic past bare · participle past borne · colloquial participle past bore · participle past born · first person past singular bore · archaic first person past singular bare · archaic present second person singular bearest · past second person singular bore · archaic past second person singular bare · archaic past second person singular borest · archaic past second person singular barest · present singular third person bears · archaic present singular third person beareth

1. transitiveTo carry or convey, literally or figuratively.

   They came bearing gifts.

   5 more examples

   Judging from the look on his face, he wasn't bearing good news.

   The little boat bore us to our destination.

   This plant's light and fluffy seeds may be borne by the wind to remote islands.

   what the market will bear

   I'll bear your logs the while.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

   1. transitiveTo carry (weapons, flags or symbols of rank, office, etc.) upon one's person, especially visibly; to be equipped with (weapons, etc.).

      the right to bear arms

      1 more example

      Master Shake: […] so that I too may be able to bet on the sporting event where the guy did jailtime for bringing the gun into the club. / Carl: Hey ey ey, watch it. He got a constitutional right to bear arms...in a dance club.

      2012 July 29, Dave Willis, Matt Maiellaro, “Bookie” (06:14 from the start), in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, season 9, episode 6, spoken by Master Shake and Carl (Dana Snyder and Dave Willis)

   2. transitiveTo wear (garments, pieces of jewellery, etc.).

      The queen bore the royal scepter and crown as she processed into the hall.

   3. intransitiveraretransitiveTo carry (offspring in the womb), to be pregnant (with).

      The scan showed that the ewe was bearing twins.

   4. transitiveTo have or display (a mark or other feature).

      The stone bears a short inscription.

      3 more examples

      She still bears the scars from a cycling accident.

      This bears all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.

      […] male stag-beetles often bear wounds from the huge mandibles of other males.

      1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 88

   5. transitiveTo display (a particular heraldic device) on a shield or coat of arms; to be entitled to wear or use (a heraldic device) as a coat of arms.First known use 1400

      The shield bore a red cross.

   6. transitiveTo present or exhibit (a particular outward appearance); to have (a certain look).First known use 1200

      He bore the look of a defeated man.

      1 more example

      The body was unclothed, and bore the appearance of being washed up by the sea.

      1930, Essex Chronicle, 18 April 9/5

   7. transitiveTo have (a name, title, or designation).First known use 1225

      The school still bears the name of its founder.

      2 more examples

      […] imitations that bear the same name as the things […]

      2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 234b

      Heinrich Olbers described the paradox that bears his name in 1823.

      2013, D. Goldberg, Universe in Rearview Mirror, iii. 99

   8. transitiveTo possess or enjoy (recognition, renown, a reputation, etc.); to have (a particular price, value, or worth).First known use 1393

      The dictator bears a terrible reputation for cruelty.

   9. transitiveusuallyloanTo have (interest or a specified rate of interest) stipulated in its terms.First known use 1686

      The bond bears a fixed interest rate of 3.5%.

   10. transitiveTo have (an appendage, organ, etc.) as part of the body; (of a part of the body) to have (an appendage).

       Only the male Indian elephant bears tusks.

   11. transitiveTo carry or hold in the mind; to experience, entertain, harbour (an idea, feeling, or emotion).

       to bear a grudge, to bear ill will

       1 more example

       the ancient grudge I bear him

       c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

   12. raretransitiveTo feel and show (respect, reverence, loyalty, etc.) to, towards, or unto a person or thing.

       The brothers had always borne one another respect.

   13. transitiveTo possess inherently (a quality, attribute, power, or capacity); to have and display as an essential characteristic.

       to bear life

   14. transitiveTo have (a relation, correspondence, etc.) to something else.First known use 1556

       The punishment bears no relation to the crime.

   15. transitiveTo give (written or oral testimony or evidence); (figurative) to provide or constitute (evidence or proof), give witness.

       His achievements bear testimony to his ability.

       1 more example

       The jury could see he was bearing false witness.

   16. transitiveTo have (a certain meaning, intent, or effect).

       This word no longer bears its original meaning.

       1 more example

       Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform.

       1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC

   17. reflexivetransitiveTo behave or conduct (oneself).

       She bore herself well throughout the ordeal.

       2 more examples

       Thus must thou thy body bear.

       c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

       Hath he borne himself penitently in prison?

       c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]

   18. raretransitiveTo possess and use, to exercise (power or influence); to hold (an office, rank, or position).

       Every man should bear rule in his own house.

       1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 1:22

   19. intransitiveobsoletetransitiveTo carry a burden or burdens.First known use 1450
   20. obsoleteraretransitiveTo take or bring (a person) with oneself; to conduct.First known use 1590

       Bear them to my house.

       c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

2. To support, sustain, or endure.
   1. transitiveTo support or sustain; to hold up.

      This stone bears most of the weight.

   2. now transitive outside certain set patterns such as 'bear with'; formerly also intransitive; now transitive outside certain set patterns such as 'bear with'; formerly also intransitiveTo endure or withstand (hardship, scrutiny, etc.); to tolerate; to be patient (with).

      It doesn’t bear thinking about.

      5 more examples

      The pain is too much for me to bear.

      I would never move to Texas — I can't bear heat.

      This reasoning will not bear much analysis.

      Please bear with me as I try to find the book you need.

      I cannot, cannot bear; ’tis past , ’tis done; / Perish this impious , this detested son; […]

      1700, John Dryden, “Meleager and Atalanta”, in The poetical works, volume 4, William Pickering, published 1852, page 169

      Synonyms: brook, endure, abear, abide, aby, accept, allow, bide

   3. transitiveTo sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.).

      The hirer must bear the cost of any repairs.

      2 more examples

      He shall bear their iniquities.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:11

      What have you gotten there under your arm, Daughter? somewhat, I hope, that will bear your Charges in your Pilgrimage.

      1753, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar: or, the Double Discovery, Tonson and Draper, p. 64

      Synonyms: meet

   4. transitiveTo admit or be capable of (a meaning); to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change.

      In all criminal cases the most favourable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear.

      1724, Drapier's Letters, Jonathan Swift

   5. transitiveTo warrant, justify the need for.

      This storm definitely bears monitoring.

      1 more example

      An unusually high percentage of the hundreds of gay men who participated in the experimental trials for this vaccine (1978-1980) developed AIDS. Since these trials occurred at about the same time as the first AIDS cases in the same cities […] a possible connection at least bears careful study.

      1989 August 19, Bob Lederer, “Hiding Behind HIV”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 6, page 10

3. To support, keep up, or maintain.
   1. transitiveTo afford, to be something to someone, to supply with something.

      […] admitted to that equal sky, / His faithful dog shall bear him company.

      1732–4, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Longmans, Green & Co, 1879, p. 10

   2. transitiveTo carry on, or maintain; to have.

      […] and he finds the Pleasure, and Credit of bearing a Part in the Conversation, and of having his Reasons sometimes approved and hearken'd to.

      1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, § 98

4. To press or impinge upon.
   1. intransitiveusuallywith onupon; or against; upon; or againstTo push, thrust, press.

      The rope has frayed where it bears on the rim of the wheel.

      1 more example

      These men therefore bear hard upon the suspected party.

      1711 September 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 14, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 170; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

   2. figurativelyintransitiveTo take effect; to have influence or force; to be relevant.

      to bring arguments to bear

      1 more example

      How does this bear on the question?

   3. intransitiveusually with on or upongovernmentOf a weapon, to be aimed at an enemy or other target.

      The cannons were wheeled around to bear upon the advancing troops.

      1 more example

      2012, Ronald D. Utt, Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron Constitution's gun crews crossed the deck to the already loaded larboard guns as Bainbridge wore the ship around on a larboard tack and recrossed his path in a rare double raking action to bring her guns to bear again on Java's damaged stern.

5. To produce, yield, give birth to.
   1. ditransitivetransitiveTo give birth to (someone or something) (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object).

      The twins were borne by an Italian mother.

      2 more examples

      In Troy she becomes Paris’ wife, bearing him several children, all of whom die in infancy.

      The powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood for ninety generations has been manipulating bloodlines to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a superbeing. On Caladan, Jessica, a member of the sisterhood and the bound concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, had been ordered to bear only daughters. Because of her love for the duke, she disobeyed and gave birth to a son: Paul, Paul Atreides.

      1984, 10:44 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), spoken by Princess Irulan, →OCLC

   2. intransitivetransitiveuncommonTo produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.

      This year our apple trees bore a good crop of fruit.

      1 more example

      Betwixt two seasons comes th' auspicious air, / This age to blossom, and the next to bear.

      1688, John Dryden, Britannia Rediviva

6. intransitiveTo be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere).

   Great Falls bears north of Bozeman.

   2 more examples

   Carry on past the church and then bear left at the junction.

   By my readings, we're bearing due south, so we should turn about ten degrees east.

7. obsoletetransitiveTo gain or win.

   Some think to bear it by speaking a great word.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Seeming Wise”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

   1 more example

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

   April 5, 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Fifth Sermon Preached Before King Edward (probably not in original spelling)

1. alternativeuncountableAlternative spelling of bere (“barley”).

   Two stacks of beare, of xx boules,

   1895, Whittingham Vale, Dixon, section 130

   4 more examples

   There are several plots of those species of barley called big, which is six-rowed barley; or bear, which is four-rowed, cultivated.

   1800, Tuke, Agric., 119

   Bigg or bear, with four grains on the ear, was the kind of barley.

   1818, Reports Agric., Marshall, I. 191

   […] one wheat stack, one half-stack of corn, and a little hay, all standing in the barnyard; four stacks of bear in the barn, about three bolls of bear lying on the barn floor, two stacks of corn in the barn, […]

   1908, Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, page 151

   Your Horses are Getting Pease Straw, and looking very well. The 2 Stacks of Bear formerly mentioned as Put in by Mr Bookless is not fully dressed as yet so that I cannot say at present what Quantity they may Produce .

   1802-1816, Papers on Sutherland Estate Management, published in 1972, Scottish History Society, Publications

alternative bere

1. alternativeuncountableAlternative spelling of bere (“pillowcase”).

   ij payer of schete, ij pelows wt the berys,

   1850, Samuel Tymms, Wills and Inventories from the Registers of the Commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the Archdeacon of Sudbury, page 116

   4 more examples

   And, according to this, one of my Neighbours made a Bag, like a Pillow-bear, of the ordinary six-penny yard Cloth, and boiled his Hops in it half an Hour; then he took them out, and put in another Bag of the like Quantity of fresh Hops, […]

   1742, William Ellis, The London and Country Brewer … Fourth Edition, page 36

   1641.—14 yards of femble cloth, 12s. ; 8 yards of linen, 6s. 8d. ; 20 yards of harden, 10s. ; 5 linen sheets, 1l. ; 7 linen pillow bears, 8s. ; 2 femble sheets and a line hard sheet, 10s. ; 3 linen towels, 4s. ; 6 lin curtains and a vallance, 12s. ; […]

   1858, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, page 409

   I give to my Grand Child Lidea Carpenter the Coverlid that her mother spun and my pillow bear and a pint Cup & my great Pott that belongs to the Pott and Trammels.

   1905, Emily Wilder Leavitt, Palmer Groups: John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass. and His Descendants ; Gathered and Arranged for Mr. Lowell Mason Palmer of New York, page 24

   […] a man's eyes played him false, sitting him before tables proper with damask and pewter, leading him to fall into beds gracious with small and large feather beds for softness and pillowed luxuriously under pretty checked linen pillow bears.

   1941, Minnie Hite Moody, Long Meadows, page 71

1. A surname.
2. usually preceded by definite articleastronomyThe constellation Ursa Major.

   But he must ever watch the northern Bear, Who from her frozen height with jealous eye Confronts the Dog and the Hunter in the south, And is alone not dipt in Ocean's stream.

   1869, Matthew Arnold, Early Poems, Narrative Poems and Sonnets, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1885, page 150

   1 more example

   The holes in the sky by which the upper waters escaped were made by God when he removed two stars out of the constellation of the Pleiades; and in order to stop this torrent of rain God had afterwards to bung up the two holes with a couple of stars borrowed from the constellation of the Bear. That is why the Bear runs after the Pleiades to this day: she wants her children back.

   1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 144

3. A male given name.

   Liam Payne, a former member of the boyband One Direction, has died after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to local police. Payne, who was 31, leaves behind his seven-year-old son, Bear.

   2024 October 16, Dan Heching, Manuela Castro, Mauricio Torres, Alli Rosenbloom and Christian Edwards, “Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dies after hotel balcony fall”, in CNN

4. A place in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Garland County, Arkansas.
   2. A census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware.
   3. An unincorporated community in Adams County, Idaho.