• Bear

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /bɛə(ɹ)/, /bɛː(ɹ)/, enPR: bâr
    • US IPA: /bɛɚ/, enPR: bâr
    • Homophones: bare
    • Southern US, colloquial IPA: /bɑːɹ/
    • Homophones: bar Southern US, colloquial

    Origin 1

    From Middle English bere, from Old English bera, from Proto-Germanic *berô (compare West Frisian bear, Dutch beer, German Bär, Danish bjørn).

    etymology notes

    This is generally taken to be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ("shining, brown") (compare Tocharian A parno, B perne ("radiant, luminous"), Lithuanian bė́ras ("brown")), related to brown and beaver.

    The Germanic languages replaced the older name of the bear, , with the epithet "brown one", presumably due to taboo avoidance; compare Russian медведь ("bear"), literally “honey-eater”.

    However, Ringe (2006:106) doubts the existence of a root *bʰer- meaning "brown" ("an actual PIE word of requisite shape and meaning is not recoverable") and suggests that a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwer- ("wild animal") "should therefore perhaps be preferred", implying a Germanic merger of *ǵʰw and *gʷʰ (*gʷʰ may sometimes result in Germanic *b, perhaps e.g. in , but it also seems to have given the g in gun and the w in warm.

    )

    Full definition of bear

    Noun

    bear

    (plural bears)
    1. A large omnivorous mammal, related to the dog and raccoon, having shaggy hair, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of family Ursidae, particularly of subfamily .
    2. (figuratively) A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person. 1579
    3. (finance) An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices. 1744
    4. (slang, US) A state policeman short for smokey bear. 1970s
      • 1976 June, CB Magazine, Communications Publication Corporation, Oklahoma City, June 40/3:‘The bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,’ reported someone else.
    5. (slang) A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual. 1990
      • 1990, "Bears, gay men subculture materials" (publication title, , Collection Level Periodical Record):
      • 2004, Richard Goldstein, Why I'm Not a Bear, in The Advocate, number 913, 27 April 2004, page 72: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.
      • 2006, Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, Human sexuality: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.
    6. (engineering) A portable punching machine.
    7. (nautical) A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.

    Antonyms

    • (investor who anticipates falling prices) bull

    Derived terms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in.to bear a railroad stockto bear the market

    Adjective

    bear

    1. (finance, investments) Characterized by or believing to benefit of declining prices in securities markets.The great bear market starting in 1929 scared a whole generation of investors.

    Origin 2

    From Middle English beren ("carry, bring forth"), from Old English beran ("to carry, bear, bring"), from Proto-Germanic *beraną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, *bʰére-. Akin to Old High German beran ("carry"), Dutch baren, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽, Latin ferre, and Ancient Greek φέρειν, Albanian bie ("to bring, to bear"), Russian брать (brat', "to take").

    Verb

  • (transitive) To support or sustain; to hold up.This stone bears most of the weight.
  • (transitive) To carry something.
    • unknown date, Shakespeare:I'll bear your logs the while.
    • 2005, Lesley Brown, translator, Plato, Sophist. :imitations that bear the same name as the things
    • In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
    • 1954, All Summer in a Day, They surged about her, caught her up and bore her
  • (transitive) To be equipped with (something).the right to bear arms
  • (transitive) To wear or display.The shield bore a red cross.
  • (transitive, with witness) To declare as testimony.The jury could see he was bearing false witness.
  • (transitive) To put up with something.I would never move to Texas—I can't bear heat.Please bear with me as I ramble on and on about nothing very important, such as that time when I was in Montana and I may have seen a mountain lion, but it was pretty far off and it was raining—the weather, not the lion—and the car broke down...
  • (transitive) To give birth to someone or something may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object.In Troy she becomes Paris’ wife, bearing him several children, all of whom die in infancy.
  • (ambitransitive) To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.
    • unknown date, John Drydenthis age to blossom, and the next to bear
  • (intransitive) To be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere).The harbour bears north by northeast.By my readings, we're bearing due south, so we should turn about ten degrees east.Great Falls bears north of Bozeman.
  • (intransitive) To suffer, as in carrying a burden.
  • (intransitive) To endure with patience; to be patient.
  • To press; with on, upon, or against.
    • unknown date Addison:These men bear hard on the suspected party.
  • To take effect; to have influence or force.to bring matters to bear
  • To relate or refer; with on or upon.How does this bear on the question?
  • To have a certain meaning, intent, or effect.
    • unknown date Nathaniel Hawthorne:Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform.
  • (transitive, obsolete) To conduct; to bring (a person).
  • To possess and use (power, etc.); to exercise.
    • unknown date Bible, Esther 1.22:Every man should bear rule in his own house.
  • To possess mentally; to carry or hold in the mind; to entertain; to harbour.
  • (obsolete) To gain or win.
    • unknown date Francis Bacon:Some think to bear it by speaking a great word.
    • unknown date Latimer:She was ... found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge.
  • To sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.).
    • unknown date Bible, Isaiah 53:11:He shall bear their iniquities.
    • unknown date John Dryden:somewhat that will bear your charges
  • To carry on, or maintain; to have.
    • unknown date John Locke:the credit of bearing a part in the conversation
  • To admit or be capable of; to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change.
    • unknown date Jonathan Swift:In all criminal cases the most favourable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear.
  • To manage, wield, or direct; to behave or conduct (oneself).
    • unknown date Shakespeare:Thus must thou thy body bear.
    • unknown date Shakespeare:Hath he borne himself penitently in prison?
  • To afford; to be (something) to; to supply with.

    • Usage notes

    bear is usually borne:

    He could not have borne that load.

    She had borne five children.

    This is not to be borne!

    However, when bear means "to give birth to" (literally or figuratively), the passive past participle is born:

    She was born on May 3.

    Born three years earlier, he was the eldest of his siblings.

    "The idea to create Blue Ridge Parkway was born in the travail of the Great Depression ...." (Tim Pegram, The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger's Memoir, ISBN 0786431407, 2007, page 1)

    Both spellings are used in the construction born(e) to someone (as a child):

    He was born(e) to Mr. Smith.

    She was born(e) to the most powerful family in the city.

    "My father was borne to a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, both devout Lutherans." (David Ross, Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds, ISBN 1452450323, 2009)

    In the Middle English period, and rarely also today, the form "yborn" exist(ed).

    Derived terms

    Derived terms

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