Definition of "bear"

bear¹

/bɛə(ɹ)/

noun
plural bears
1. A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous), related to the dog and raccoon, having shaggy hair, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of the family Ursidae.
  1. (cooking, uncountable) The meat of this animal.
2. (figuratively) A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person.
3. (finance) An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices.
  Quotations
  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 market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]
  1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64
4. (CB radio, slang, US) A state policeman (short for Smokey Bear).
  Quotations
  By the time we got into Tulsa TownWe had eighty-five trucks in allBut there's a roadblock up on the cloverleafAnd them bears was wall-to-wall.Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumperThey even had a bear in the air.I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.We about to go a-huntin' bear."
  1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall
  '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 pictures […]
  2015, Matt Cashion, Last Words of the Holy Ghost, page 85
5. (gay slang) A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual.
  Quotations
  Bears are usually hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats.]
  , number 272, Liberation Publications, archived from the original on 2014-04-18, page 42
  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, number 913, page 72
  There are numerous social organizations for bears in most parts of the United States. Lesbians don't have such prominent sexual subcultures as gay men, although, as just mentioned, some lesbians are into BDSM practices.
  2006, Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, Human sexuality
6. (Australia) A koala (bear).
  Quotations
  Bunyip Bluegum was a tidy bear, he objected to whisker soup[.]
  1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 8
7. (engineering) A portable punching machine.
8. (nautical) A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.
9. (cartomancy) The fifteenth Lenormand card.
10. (colloquial, US) Something difficult or tiresome; a burden or chore.
  Quotations
  "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
verb
third-person singular simple present bears, present participle bearing, simple past and past participle beared
1. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in.
adjective
not comparable
1. (finance, investments) Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall.

bear²

/bɛə(ɹ)/

verb
third-person singular simple present bears, present participle bearing, simple past bore or (archaic) bare, past participle borne or bore or (see usage notes) born
1. (chiefly transitive) To carry or convey, literally or figuratively.
  Quotations
  I'll bear your logs the while.
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
  In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
  1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion‎, page 266
  They surged about her, caught her up and bore her.
  1954 March, Ray Bradbury, “All Summer in a Day”, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction‎, volume 6, number 3, page 122
  1. (transitive, of weapons, flags or symbols of rank, office, etc.) To carry upon one's person, especially visibly; to be equipped with.
  2. (transitive, of garments, pieces of jewellery, etc.) To wear.
  3. (transitive, rarely intransitive, of a woman or female animal) To carry (offspring in the womb), to be pregnant (with).
  4. (transitive) To have or display (a mark or other feature).
    Quotations
    Male stag-beetles often bear wounds from the huge mandibles of other males.
    1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, chapter 4, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], page 88
  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.
  6. (transitive) To present or exhibit (a particular outward appearance); to have (a certain look).
    Quotations
    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).
    Quotations
    […] 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).
  9. (transitive, of an investment, loan, etc.) To have (interest or a specified rate of interest) stipulated in its terms.
  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).
  11. (transitive) To carry or hold in the mind; to experience, entertain, harbour (an idea, feeling, or emotion).
    Quotations
    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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii]
  12. (transitive, rare) To feel and show (respect, reverence, loyalty, etc.) to, towards, or unto a person or thing.
  13. (transitive) To possess inherently (a quality, attribute, power, or capacity); to have and display as an essential characteristic.
  14. (transitive, of a thing) To have (a relation, correspondence, etc.) to something else.
  15. (transitive) To give (written or oral testimony or evidence); (figurative) to provide or constitute (evidence or proof), give witness.
  16. (transitive) To have (a certain meaning, intent, or effect).
    Quotations
    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
  17. (reflexive, transitive) To behave or conduct (oneself).
    Quotations
    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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii]
    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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]
  18. (transitive, rare) To possess and use, to exercise (power or influence); to hold (an office, rank, or position).
    Quotations
    Every man should bear rule in his own house.
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 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.
    Quotations
    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] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]
2. To support, sustain, or endure.
  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).
    Quotations
    I cannot, cannot bear; ’tis past , ’tis done; / Perish this impious , this detested son; […]
    1700, John Dryden, “Meleager and Atalanta”, in The poetical works, volume 4, William Pickering, published 1852, page 169
    Man is born to bear.
    1715–1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book XXIV”, in The Iliad of Homer, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […]
    […] We are fools and slight;⁠We mock thee when we do not fear:⁠But help thy foolish ones to bear;Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.
    1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], prologue
  3. (transitive) To sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.).
    Quotations
    He shall bear their iniquities.
    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 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
  4. (transitive) To admit or be capable of (a meaning); to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change.
    Quotations
    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.
3. To support, keep up, or maintain.
  1. (transitive) To afford, to be something to someone, to supply with something.
    Quotations
    […] admitted to that equal sky, / His faithful dog shall bear him company.
    1732–4, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Longmans, Green & Co, 1879, bear%20him%20company%20pope&hl=de&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 10
  2. (transitive) To carry on, or maintain; to have.
    Quotations
    […] 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
4. To press or impinge upon.
  1. (intransitive, usually with on, upon, or against) To push, thrust, press.
    Quotations
    These men therefore bear hard upon the suspected party.
    1711 September 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, September 14, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 170; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
  2. (intransitive, figuratively) To take effect; to have influence or force; to be relevant.
  3. (intransitive, military, usually with on or upon) Of a weapon, to be aimed at an enemy or other target.
    Quotations
    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 raking action to bring her guns to bear again on Java's damaged stern.
    2012, Ronald D. Utt, Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron
5. To produce, yield, give birth to.
  1. (transitive, ditransitive) To give birth to (someone or something) (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object).
    Quotations
    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 Duke Leto Atreides, had been ordered to bear only daughters. Because of her love for the duke, she disobeyed and gave birth to a son: Paul, Paul Atreides.
    1984, 10:44 from the start, in Dune‎ (Science Fiction), spoken by Princess Irulan
  2. (transitive, less commonly intransitive) To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.
    Quotations
    Betwixt two seasons comes th' auspicious air, / This age to blossom, and the next to bear.
    1688, John Dryden, Britannia Rediviva
6. (intransitive, originally nautical) To be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere).
7. (transitive, obsolete) To gain or win.
  Quotations
  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
  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)

bear³

/bɪə/

noun
uncountable
1. Alternative spelling of bere (“barley”).
  Quotations
  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
  […] one wheat stack, one half-stack of corn, and a little hay, all standing in the barnyard; four stacks of bear in the barn, about three bolls of bear lying on the barn floor, two stacks of corn in the barn, […]
  1908, Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, page 151
  Your Horses are Getting Pease Straw, and looking very well. The 2 Stacks of Bear formerly mentioned as Put in by Mr Bookless is not fully dressed as yet so that I cannot say at present what Quantity they may Produce .
  1802-1816, Papers on Sutherland Estate Management, published in 1972, Scottish History Society, Publications

bear⁴

/bɛə(ɹ)/

noun
uncountable
1. Alternative spelling of bere (“pillowcase”).
  Quotations
  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 Quantity of fresh Hops, […]
  1742, William Ellis, The London and Country Brewer [...] Fourth Edition, page 36
  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 curtains and a vallance, 12s. ; […]
  1858, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, page 409
  I give to my Grand Child Lidea Carpenter the Coverlid that her mother spun and my pillow bear and a pint Cup & my great Pott that belongs to the Pott and Trammels.
  1905, Emily Wilder Leavitt, Palmer Groups: John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass. and His Descendants ; Gathered and Arranged for Mr. Lowell Mason Palmer of New York, page 24
  […] a man's eyes played him false, sitting him before tables proper with damask and pewter, leading him to fall into beds gracious with small and large feather beds for softness and pillowed luxuriously under pretty checked linen pillow bears.
  1941, Minnie Hite Moody, Long Meadows, page 71

Definition of "bear"

bear1

noun

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verb

adjective

bear2

verb

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bear3

noun

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bear4

noun

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bear¹

bear²

bear³

bear⁴