wear

present singular third person wears · participle present wearing · past wore · obsolete past ware · participle past worn · colloquial nonstandard participle past wore · obsolete participle past worne

1. To have on:
   1. transitiveTo carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, perfume, etc.

      Please wear your seatbelt.

      5 more examples

      He's wearing some nice pants today.

      She wore her medals with pride.

      Can you wear makeup and sunscreen at the same time?

      He was wearing his lunch after tripping and falling into the buffet.

      He ware upon his head a diademe of purple interpaled with white, like as Darius was accustomed.

      1553, John Brende, Historie of Quintus Curcius

   2. transitiveTo have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.

      He wears eyeglasses.

      2 more examples

      She wears her hair in braids.

      It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

      1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   3. transitiveTo bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.

      She wore a smile all day.

      2 more examples

      He walked out of the courtroom wearing an air of satisfaction.

      Then the bridegroom came slowly up the walk, wearing a very unbridegroomlike aspect, […]

      1870, Marion Harland, Helen Gardner's Wedding-day, page 139

2. To erode:
   1. To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.

      Exile had worn the man to a shadow.

      4 more examples

      You're going to wear a hole in the bottom of those shoes.

      The water has slowly worn a channel into these rocks.

      Long illness had worn the bloom from her cheeks.

      And They made the Moon, with his face wrinkled with many mountains and worn with a thousand valleys, to regard with pale eyes the games of the small gods, and to watch throughout the resting time of Māna-Yood-Sushāī; to watch, to regard all things, and be silent.

      1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC

   2. copulativeintransitiveTo undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.

      The tiles were wearing thin due to years of children's feet.

      2 more examples

      His stock of money[…] began to wear very low.

      1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

      The family that had raised it wore out in the earlier part of this century

      1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], Endymion […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC

   3. To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.

      Toil and care soon wear the spirit.

      3 more examples

      His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience.

      Our physical advantage allowed us to wear the other team out and win.

      Our ſoules, whoſe faculties can comprehend The wondrous Architecture of the world: And meaſure euery wandring planets courſe, Still climing after knowledge infinite, And alwaies mouing as the reſtles ſpheares, Wils vs to weare our ſelues & neuer reſt, […]

      c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii

   4. colloquialintransitive(in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.

      Her high pitched voice is really wearing on me lately.

3. To endure:
   1. colloquialTo overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.

      I know you don't like working with him, but you'll just have to wear it.

   2. intransitiveTo last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.

      It's hard to get to know him, but he wears well.

      3 more examples

      Don't worry, this fabric will wear. These pants will last you for years.

      This color wears so well. I must have washed this sweater a thousand times.

      I have to say, our friendship has worn pretty well.

   3. intransitiveTo pass slowly, gradually or tediously.

      wear on, wear away.

      4 more examples

      As the years wore on, we seemed to have less and less in common.

      Away, I say; time wears.

      c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

      Thus wore out night.

      1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

      That loss is common would not make ⁠My own less bitter, rather more: ⁠Too common! Never morning wore To evening, but some heart did break.

      1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

4. nauticalTo bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.

   Synonyms: gybe

1. in compoundsuncountableClothing.

   footwear; outdoor wear; maternity wear

2. uncountableDamage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time.

   Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a most strange, as for me it was a most fortunate, thing.

   1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, pages 114–115

3. uncountableFashion.

   Motley's the onely weare.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], page 193, column 1

4. uncountableWearing.

   Softer crystals are best reserved for occasional wear, whereas harder crystals can be worn every day.

   2021, Lauren D’Silva, Crystals: The Guide to Principles, Practices and More (Godsfield Companions), Godsfield, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   It is obvious, of course, that a cylinder so applied is not for constant wear, and it is not intended in any way to correct any error of refraction, but is used merely as an exercise for a few minutes at a time at repeated intervals. In case of Oblique Astigmatism the wearing of the correction will frequently fail to give satisfaction when complicated by oblique muscular trouble, […]

   1903, Lionel G. Amsden, Principles and Practices of Refraction: An Elementary Treatise on the Science of Refraction as Applied to “Sight Testing”, page 209

   Prolonged wear of the interceptor body armor outer tactical vest (OTV) is frequently blamed for common complaints of neck and shoulder pain. […] Even if patients improved after a period of light duty and shoulder rehabilitation, many complained of pain after returning to OTV wear when their shoulders again became the focal point of weight distribution.

   2008 November, Sarah D. Thomas, “Measures to Prevent Profiles in Combat Support Commands”, in Army Logistician, volume 40, number 6, page 22

present singular third person wears · participle present wearing · past weared · past wore · participle past weared · participle past wore · participle past worn · obsolete participle past worne · alternative Scotland wer · alternative Scotland weir

1. UKdialectaltransitiveTo guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.
2. UKdialectaltransitiveTo defend; protect.
3. UKdialectaltransitiveTo ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel.

   to wear the wolf from the sheep

4. UKdialectaltransitiveTo conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety.

plural wears

1. datedDated form of weir.

   Cool and clear, cool and clear, / By shining shingle, and foaming wear;

   1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby

1. A river in the counties of County Durham and Tyne and Wear, north east England. The cities of Durham and Sunderland are situated upon its grand banks.

   The train then proceeded along the wagonway in the direction of the Wear.[…] The ladies remained at the house, while the men walked to the staith on the Wear, and were shown the process of unloading the wagons into the keels by means of the coal-drop.

   1948 January and February, “Notes and News: Duke of Wellington's Early Railway Journey”, in Railway Magazine, pages 55–56