| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bear1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  bâr |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: bore ( bôr, b r), borne ( bôrn, brn) or born ( bôrn), bear·ing, bears
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To hold up; support. 2. To carry from one place to another; transport. 3. To carry in the mind; harbor: bear a grudge. 4. To transmit at large; relate: bearing glad tidings. 5. To have as a visible characteristic: bore a scar on the left arm. 6. To have as a quality; exhibit: “A thousand different shapes it bears” (Abraham Cowley). 7. To carry (oneself) in a specified way; conduct: She bore herself with dignity. 8. To be accountable for; assume: bearing heavy responsibilities. 9. To have a tolerance for; endure: couldn't bear his lying. 10. To call for; warrant: This case bears investigation. 11. To give birth to: bore six children in five years. 12. To produce; yield: plants bearing flowers. 13. To offer; render: I will bear witness to the deed. 14. To move by or as if by steady pressure; push: “boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To yield fruit; produce: peach trees that bear every summer. 2. To have relevance; apply: They studied the ways in which the relativity theory bears on the history of science. 3. To exert pressure, force, or influence. 4a. To force oneself along; forge. b. To endure something with tolerance and patience: Bear with me while I explain matters. 5. To extend or proceed in a specified direction: The road bears to the right at the bottom of the hill. | | PHRASAL VERBS: | bear down 1. To advance in a threatening manner: The ship bore down on our canoe. 2. To apply maximum effort and concentration: If you really bear down, you will finish the task. bear out To prove right or justified; confirm: The test results bear out our claims. bear up To withstand stress, difficulty, or attrition: The patient bore up well during the long illness. | | IDIOMS: | bear down on To effect in a harmful or adverse way: Financial pressures are bearing down on them. bear fruit To come to a satisfactory conclusion or to fruition. bear in mind To hold in one's mind; remember: Bear in mind that bridges freeze before roads. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English beren, from Old English beran. See bher-1 in Appendix I. | | SYNONYMS: | bear1, endure, stand, abide, suffer, tolerate These verbs mean to withstand something difficult or painful. Bear pertains broadly to the capacity to withstand: “Those best can bear reproof who merit praise” (Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism III) Endure specifies a continuing capacity to face pain or hardship: “Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed” (Samuel Johnson). Stand implies resoluteness of spirit: Actors who can't stand criticism shouldn't perform in public. Abide and suffer suggest the capacity to withstand patiently: She couldn't abide fools. He suffered their insults in silence. Tolerate, when applied to something other than pain, connotes reluctant acceptance: “A decent . . . examination of the acts of government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged” (William Henry Harrison).See also synonyms at convey, produce. | | USAGE NOTE: | Thanks to the vagaries of English spelling, bear has two past participles: born and borne. Traditionally, born is used only in passive constructions referring to birth: I was born in Chicago. For all other uses, including active constructions referring to birth, borne is the standard form: She has borne both her children at home. I have borne his insolence with the patience of a saint.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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