bear

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

1. (cooking, uncountable) The meat of this animal.

   • We had barbecued bear for dinner.

• 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...

• 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...

Antonyms: bull

• 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 bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,' reported someone else. - 1976 June, CB Magazine, Oklahoma City: Communications Publication Corporation, June 40/3:
• 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...

• 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...
• 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,...
• 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,...

Antonyms: twink

• Bunyip Bluegum was a tidy bear, he objected to whisker soup[.] - 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 8:

• That window can be a bear to open.
• "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:

• 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:
• Two stacks of beare, of xx boules, - 1895, Whittingham Vale, Dixon, section 130:

• 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...
• 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:
• 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...

• They came bearing gifts.
• Judging from the look on his face, he wasn't bearing good news.
• The little boat bore us to our destination.

1. (transitive) To 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

2. (transitive) To wear (garments, pieces of jewellery, etc.).

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

3. (transitive, rarely intransitive, of a woman or female animal) To carry (offspring in the womb), to be pregnant (with).

   • The scan showed that the ewe was bearing twins.

4. (transitive) To have or display (a mark or other feature).

   • She still bears the scars from a cycling accident.
   • The stone bears a short inscription.
   • This bears all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.

5. (transitive) To 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.

   • The shield bore a red cross.

6. (transitive) To present or exhibit (a particular outward appearance); to have (a certain look).

   • He bore the look of a defeated man.
   • The body was unclothed, and bore the appearance of being washed up by the sea. - 1930, Essex Chronicle, 18 April 9/5:

7. (transitive) To have (a name, title, or designation).

   • The school still bears the name of its founder.
   • […] 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. (transitive) To possess or enjoy (recognition, renown, a reputation, etc.); to have (a particular price, value, or worth).

   • The dictator bears a terrible reputation for cruelty.

9. (transitive, of an investment, loan, etc.) To have (interest or a specified rate of interest) stipulated in its terms.

   • The bond bears a fixed interest rate of 3.5%.

10. (transitive, of a person or animal) To 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. (transitive) To carry or hold in the mind; to experience, entertain, harbour (an idea, feeling, or emotion).

    • to bear a grudge, to bear ill will
    • 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...

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

    • The brothers had always borne one another respect.

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

    • to bear life

14. (transitive, of a thing) To have (a relation, correspondence, etc.) to something else.

    • The punishment bears no relation to the crime.

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

    • His achievements bear testimony to his ability.
    • The jury could see he was bearing false witness.

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

    • This word no longer bears its original meaning.
    • 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. (reflexive, transitive) To behave or conduct (oneself).

    • She bore herself well throughout the ordeal.
    • 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...
    • 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...

18. (transitive, rare) To 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. (intransitive, obsolete) To carry a burden or burdens.

20. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To take or bring (a person) with oneself; to conduct.

    • 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]...

• This stone bears most of the weight.

1. (transitive) To support or sustain; to hold up.

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

   • The pain is too much for me to bear.
   • It doesn’t bear thinking about.
   • I would never move to Texas — I can't bear heat.

   Synonyms: brook endure abear abide aby accept allow bear bide dree forbear go along with live with pass pocket pouch put up with stand stick stomach suffer swallow take take sitting down

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

   • The hirer must bear the cost of any repairs.
   • 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. (transitive) To 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. (transitive) To warrant, justify the need for.

   • This storm definitely bears monitoring.
   • 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...

• […] 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

1. (transitive) To afford, to be something to someone, to supply with something.

2. (transitive) To 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:

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

1. (intransitive, usually with on, upon, or against) To push, thrust, press.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To take effect; to have influence or force; to be relevant.

   • to bring arguments to bear
   • How does this bear on the question?

3. (intransitive, military, usually with on or upon) Of a weapon, to be aimed at an enemy or other target.

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

• In Troy she becomes Paris’ wife, bearing him several children, all of whom die in infancy.
• The twins were borne by an Italian mother.
• 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...

1. (transitive, ditransitive) To give birth to (someone or something) (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object).

2. (transitive, less commonly intransitive) To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.

   • This year our apple trees bore a good crop of fruit.
   • Betwixt two seasons comes th' auspicious air, / This age to blossom, and the next to bear. - 1688, John Dryden, Britannia Rediviva:

• 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.
• Great Falls bears north of Bozeman.

• 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:
• 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)

• to bear a railroad stock
• to bear the market