Meanings
present singular third person bears up · participle present bearing up · past bore up · participle past borne up
- idiomaticintransitiveTo endure hardship cheerfully or without complaining.
- 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, →OCLC1 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
bear up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20up
“bear up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bear%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.
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.