Meanings
nounbear hug (plural bear hugs)
plural bear hugs
- Any especially large, tight or enthusiastic hug, usually friendly and especially given by a male.
Granddad scooped up the child in a big bear hug.
1 more example
Challenger kissed us all in her emotion, before she finally threw herself into the bear-hug of her husband.
1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC - businessA hostile takeover effort in which one firm offers to buy the other firm at a share price too high to refuse.
- governmentA hold with the arms around the opponent.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 熊抱
- 熊抱 (xióngbào)any especially large hug, usually friendly
Danish bamseknus
- bamseknusany especially large hug, usually friendly
Finnish karhunsyleily, karhunhali
- karhunsyleilyany especially large hug, usually friendly
- karhunhaliany especially large hug, usually friendly
Portuguese abraço de urso, chi
- abraço de ursoany especially large hug, usually friendly
- chiany especially large hug, usually friendly
- chi-coraçãoany especially large hug, usually friendly
Spanish abrazote, abrazazo
- abrazoteany especially large hug, usually friendly
- abrazazoany especially large hug, usually friendly
- abrazo de osoany especially large hug, usually friendly
- abrazo úrsidoany especially large hug, usually friendly
Swedish björnkram, bamsekram
- björnkramany especially large hug, usually friendly
- bamsekramany especially large hug, usually friendly
Cite this entry
APA
bear hug. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20hug
MLA
“bear hug.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20hug. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bear hug,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20hug.
Source: bear hug on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.