bear up

verb

To sail close to the wind.

Meanings

verbbear up (third-person singular simple present bears up, present participle bearing up, simple past bore up, past participle borne up)

present singular third person bears up · participle present bearing up · past bore up · participle past borne up

  1. nauticalTo sail close to the wind.
  2. idiomaticintransitiveTo endure hardship cheerfully or without complaining.
  3. idiomatictransitiveTo support; to keep from falling or sinking.

    [Religious hope] does not only bear up the mind under her sufferings.

    1712 September 9 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, August 30, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 471; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC
    1 more example

    Afterwards the Lord renued this Covenant with Noah, Gen. 6.10. and did further reveale it in another Type, namely, the ſaving of Noah and his family in the Arke, which was borne up by the flood of Waters; […]

    1640, [George Walker], chapter VI, in The Manifold Wisedome of God: In the divers diſpenſation of Grace by Ieſus Christ. […], London: Printed by R. H[odgkinson] for Iohn Bartlet, page 61

Synonyms & antonyms

Translations

Māori ngongo
  • ngongoto sail close to the wind
Cite this entry
APA

bear up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20up

MLA

“bear up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bear up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20up.

Source: bear up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.