str. Pa. t. bore. Pa. pple. borne, born. Forms: Inf. 1 ber-an, (2 beor-en, bor-en), 2–5 ber-en, 3–6 ber-e, (4 berne, bern), 4–5 ber, 5 beere, Sc. 5–6 beir(e, 5–7 beare, (5–8 bare, 6 baire, berie), 6– bear. Pa. t. 1–2 bær (pl. bǽron), 2–5 ber, bar (pl. beren), 4–5 bere, 4–8 bare, (4 beir, beere, baar); 5– bore (rare till c. 1600), 6 boore; Sc. 5 bur, 5–6 buir, 6–8 bure; (5 baryd, 7 beared). Pa. pple. 1–4 boren, (4–5 borin(e, 5 borun), 4–7 born (rare), 5–7 borne (usual); also 2–4 iboren, 3–5 ibore, ybore, ibor, (5 ebore), 3–8 bore, (4–5 bor, 6 arch. yborne, ybore), 8–9 borne, born differentiated. [Common Teut., and Aryan: OE., OS., OHG. ber-an, ON. ber-a, Goth. bair-an:—OTeut. stem ber- = L. fer-, Gr. φερ-, Skr. bhar-. (The compound form, Goth. ga-bairan, OHG. ga-beran, OS. gi-beran, OE. ʓeberan, ME. IBERE, is in some of the langs. more usual than the simple verb: cf. MHG. gebern, mod.G. gebären in sense IV). As the senses of carry a burden, and bring forth fruit or offspring, are both found in the word and its derivatives in the Aryan languages generally, from the earliest period, it is not certain which is the primitive; possibly branch IV preceded I in prehistoric times. In mod.Eng. the originally short vowel of the present has been lengthened by position. The pa. t., in Gothic bar, pl. bêrun, was regularly in OE. bær, bǽron (Anglian béron); early ME. bar, beren, afterwards by levelling of sing. and pl., in south ber, beren, beeren, in north bar(e, baren, bare, which became the literary form. The later bore, assimilated in vowel to the pa. pple., appears in w. midl. texts, about 1400; it was not general till after 1600; the Shaks. folio of 1623 has bore and bare, but the Bible of 1611 only bare. The corresponding Sc. bure, buir (pointing to earlier ō) is found in 15th c. As to the two forms of the pa. pple., borne, born, see 44 below. The ME. iboren may also be referred to the derivative IBERE (see above), which cannot be separated in sense from the simple verb.]
Main senses: I. to carry; II. to sustain; III. to thrust, press; IV. to bring forth.
I. To carry; with its transferred and fig. senses.
1. trans. To support the weight of (anything) whilst moving it from one place to another; to carry. Now usually restricted in prose to the carrying of something weighty or which requires an effort.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 96. [Hie hina] leton holm beran, ʓeafon on gársecʓ.
1154. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1135. Wua sua bare his byrthen.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 89. Hie … beren on here honde blostme.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 209. God bar him in-to paradis.
c. 1380. Wyclif, De Ps. Freris, xxii. Wks. (1880), 307. Boren aboute wiþ windis.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 943. On his bak he bar … Anchises.
c. 1400. Maundev., xvi. 172. Men … beeren his body in to Mesopatayme … and aftre he was broughte thidre agen.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, I. 114. With mete ne bere þy knyfe to mowthe.
1483. Cath. Angl., 28. To bere, baiulare, portare.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 17. She hath one a’ my sonnets already, the Clowne bore it, the foole sent it.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Eld. Brother, I. ii. Court-admirers … ever echo him that bears the bag.
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks. (1711), 256. The other half was born by the frighted Steed thro the Field.
1740. Johnson, Drake, Wks. 1787, IV. 453. Over his head was born a rich canopy.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. ii. 138. The wretch who bore them in her womb.
1820. Scott, Ivanhoe, viii. He was borne senseless from the lists.
b. absol. To carry burdens.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 90. Forgiuenesse, horse: why do I raile on thee, Since thou … Was’t borne to beare?
1611. Bible, Gen. xlix. 15. He … bowed his shoulder to beare.
c. To lift, raise, or keep up (a thing) while moving it. Obs. or arch.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, iv. 62. These two muscles baire the hand vpward.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 98. When he draws back his Saw, the Work-man bears it lightly off the un-sawn Stuff. Ibid., 170. To bear their Work off the Cheeks of the Lathe.
d. Backgammon: To remove a piece at the end of a game. Also absol.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 209. I will no more play at tables with thee: When wee come to bearyng, thou begylest mee, In bearyng of thy men. Ibid., 110. Eche other caste thou bearest a man to many.
1748. Hoyle, Backgammon, in Penny Cycl., III. 240/2. If you bear any number of men, before you entered a man taken up … such men, so borne, must be entered again in your adversary’s tables.
† e. To take as a companion, take along with one; to carry as a consequence. Obs.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 2. After that he had faire Una lorne … And false Duessa in her sted had borne.
1607. Shaks., Timon, I. i. 131. His honesty rewards him in it selfe, It must not beare my Daughter.
f. To bear across: to support (things) going across.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 75. Finding a bridge which bore us across the crevasse.
2. fig. Said in reference to things immaterial, or to ideal carrying.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. We aȝen to beren ure louerd ihesu crist on heorte.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 424. Nouðer of þe wummen ne beren … none idele talen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2201. Ful fer about men bar his name.
c. 1500. Merch. & Son, in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 23. There was not oon man in all thys londe that bare a bettyr brede.
1552. Huloet, Beare tale or tidynges.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 831/2. This pope Leo … bare but seauen and thirtie yeeres of age.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XVI. 162. To the Queen with speed dispatchful bear Our safe return.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. 242. The ancestor, during his life, beareth in himself all his heirs.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., ii. Wks. V. 213. [He] seem’d to bear at heart Something that rankled there.
1879. Maclear, Celts, v. 79. Another … incident, which bears internal evidence of high antiquity.
b. To bear in mind: to carry or keep in remembrance.
1538. Bale, God’s Promyses, I. in Dodsley (1780), I. 12. To beare in mynde … The brute of thy name.
1539. Taverner, Erasm. Prov., 20. Worthy … to be continually borne in mynde.
1852. McCulloch, Taxation, II. iv. 199. It should … be borne in mind that this is not a mere agricultural question.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 313. He promised to bear the subject in mind.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. IV. 106. Bear what I say in mind.
c. To bear witness, record, testimony: to testify.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6478. Ne ber þou witnes nan bot lele.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 585. Als þe buk says and bers witnes.
1526. Tindale, John viii. 14. Though I beare recorde [Wyclif witnessyng, Rhem. testimonie] of my selfe, yet my recorde is true.
1611. Bible, Ex. xx. 16. Thou shalt not beare false witnes against thy neighbour.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1749. [He] to his faithful champion hath in place Bore witness gloriously.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 508. Titles … against which he had often borne his testimony.
3. With extension, and in phrases; both in lit. and fig. sense.
a. Extended by various advbs., as about, away, off, out, etc. Sometimes with specialized sense, as To bear away: to carry away as winner; † to carry away in the mind (a thing learned) obs. To be borne away: i.e., in opinion by feeling, impulse, etc. † To bear forth: to carry out, conduct (a matter); to develop. To bear off: to carry off as winner. To bear out: To pretend, give out (obs.); to extol (obs.); to support, back up, corroborate, confirm; to be responsible for (obs.). † To bear over: to transfer; to carry over, hold over to a later date. To bear up: to carry, holding up (a train, etc.)
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. xxiii. (1865), 396. To bear* about the piteous spectacle of his own self-ruins.
1842. H. E. Manning, Serm. (1848), I. 317. The dying body we now bear* about.
c. 1450. Rob. Hood (Ritson), I. i. 1132. And he that shoteth alder best The game shall bere* away.
1530. Palsgr., 449/1. I beare* awaye as a well wytted chylde dothe his lesson, Je apprens.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, 5. Easier to beare* away and be retained in memorie.
1711. Spect., No. 548, ¶ 6. Such tragedies as ended unhappily bore* away the prizes.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xiv. 114. Borne* away by their prejudices.
c. 1460. Bk. Quintessence, 11. It berith* forþ þat blood anoon aftir into fleisch.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 212. This Duke had borne* forth his youth with better respect then Prince Henry his brother had done.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. xxvi. We are enow to storm the hold, Bear* off the plunder and the dame.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V., 10. Somme were that bare* out the beaulte of the syster of the Kyng.
1530. Palsgr., 450/2. This felowe beareth* it out, as he were a great gentlyman.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., 128. He helpeth and beareth* out simple wittes.
1618. Bolton, Florus (1636), 153. Thou didst defend thy selfe … against that people which had all the earth to backe, and beare them *out.
1629. Gaule, Pract. The., 334. Yet he beares* out, As he’d preuent, or pittie the disaster.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xix. 166. You think, I suppose, that your friends … will bear you* out.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. vi. 441. A splendid panegyric which is fully borne* out by his recorded acts.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. x. 8. Rewme fro folc in to folc is born* ouer. Ibid., Prov. xxix. 11. A wis man berth* ouer, and kepith vnto afterward.
1482. Monk of Evesham (1869), 40. They ware bore* vppe an hy by the grete vyolente flamys of fier.
1503. Hawes, Examp. Virt., xiii. 255. Dame grace … bare* vp her trayn.
b. To bear the bell, coals, the cross, a fagot, the flower, the gree, the palm, the prize, a part, the stroke, the word: see BELL, COALS, etc. † To bear low sail: to demean oneself humbly.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12353. Þa oþer leonis … wiþ þaire heued þai bare logh saile.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. i. 52. I had rather chop this Hand off at a blow … Then beare so low a sayle, to strike to thee.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 135 b. Our Foy gallants, unable to beare a low sayle, in their fresh gale of fortune.
† c. To bear the face, the heart: to direct, turn, incline it. Obs.
c. 1300. Beket, 224. The King also … bar his hurte mest: to do ther Seint Thomas.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 67. Towarde a foreste I bere þe face.
d. To bear (any one) company (fellowship obs.), a hand: to bring, give, lend it. † To bear one a blow: to give or ‘fetch’ him a blow. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12568. And quen he suld to metschip ga … Alle þai felauschip him bare.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxi. 133. We desyre you to bere vs some company of armes.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iii. 34. I doe desire thee … To beare me company, and goe with me.
1647. W. Browne, Polexander, I. 116. Bajazet … bore him a blow that, in all likelyhood, should have bereft his life.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. vii. (1840), 90. You have promised to bear me company.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Bear-a-hand, a phrase of the same import with make haste … quick.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., vi. 307. Get him to bear a hand.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., II. VII. v. 290. This pleasant streamlet … has borne us company for some time.
† e. To bear (an, a, on) in hand [= F. maintenir, med.L. manūtenēre]: to maintain (a statement); maintain or assert to or against (a person); to charge, accuse (obs. c. 1540); to profess, pretend; to assure, to lead (one) to believe; to delude, abuse with false pretences. † To bear in hand: to carry on, manage.
c. 1300. Beket, 909. We wolleth the bere an hond: that thu ert his traitour.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 15922 (Trin.). Ȝe bere me wrong on honde.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of L. T., 522. This false knight … Bereth hir an hand that sche hath don this thing.
1461. Paston Lett., 396, II. 20. The parson of Snoryng … beryth hym a hand.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 37. As Con’s Cornykle bers on hand.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. xv. 103. The batellis and the weir, Quhilk eftir this he had to beir on hand.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 357. They bare me in hande . that I was a spye.
1528. More, Heresyes, I. Wks. 109/1. To dowte whither Luther himselfe … wrote in dede so euyll as he is borne in hande.
1547. Homilies, I. Fear of Death, III. (1859), 103. The love which we bear in hand to bear to him.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wars, VI. xxxiii. Devotion … Bears men a Hand on their Credulity.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 305. What, beare her in hand vntill they come to take hands. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., V. v. 43. Your daughter, whom she bore in hand to loue.
1625. Ussher, Answ. Jesuit, 4. Not so easie to be discerned, as fooles bee borne in hand they are.
a. 1716. South (1717), VI. 25. If Popery and Fanaticism are so irreconcilable, as our True Protestants would bear us in hand that they are.
† f. To bear it: to carry off as a prize, to ‘carry’ by assault, carry the day. Obs.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 23. So may he with more facile question beare it?
1612. Bacon, Ess. (Arb.), 216. Some thinke to beare it, by … being peremptorye.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Mad Lover, II. i. 7. ’Tis worth doing … but what doing beares it?.
4. refl. To bear oneself: to carry, conduct or deport oneself; behave, acquit oneself. Sometimes (like behave oneself) = to conduct oneself properly.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 4. Hu me schal beren him wiðuten.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 98. Þe gode quene gaf him in conseile, To luf his folk bituene … Bere him tille his barons.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 798. Which of yow that bereth him best of alle.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 524. Who-so in pride beryth hym to hye, with myscheff shalbe mekyd.
1530. Palsgr., 450/1. I beare my selfe well.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. vii. § 10, Wks. 1841, I. 268. Who bear themselves bold upon human authority.
c. 1600[?]. World & Child, in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 248. Bear thee prest in every game.
1658. Ussher, Ann., vi. 163. Clearchus … bearing himself for a Tyrant of Byzantium.
1754. Sherlock, Disc. (1759), I. ix. 257. A Man may bear himself so well in Disguise, as not to be discovered.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 618. The latest generations would know how … he had borne himself.
5. To have as a member or part of the body.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, E iij. And beerith talow and gris.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 309. Seruants … that bare eyes To see alike mine Honor, as their Profits.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xvi. Eustace, thou bear’st a brain.
1817. Byron, Manfred, II. iv. 92. Bear what thou borest, The heart and the form.
6. To carry about with or upon one, as material equipment or ornament.
a. To carry about with one, or wear, ensigns of office, weapons of offence or defence. To bear arms against: to be engaged in hostilities with.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 432. Secʓas bǽron … beorhte frætwa.
a. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 69. Crist … ȝeue us wepne for to beren.
c. 1400. Maundev., vi. 64. Thei beren but o Scheld and o Spere.
1568[?]. G. Ferrers, in Arb., Garner, IV. 179. Apt to bear arms.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 60. He bure armes, and made weir against the King.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. XI. 316. An ample … pardon to all who had born arms against him.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. v. 94. The staff like that still borne by Arab chiefs.
† b. To have upon the body (clothes, ornaments); to wear. To bear the breech: to ‘wear the breeches.’
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. x. § 12. [He] bær hæt on his heafde.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 382. Ich wot swulne þet bereð boðe togedere heui brunie and here.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9071. ‘Tas of’ … ‘mi kinges croun þat i na langer agh to bere.’
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6240. Many … that comyn clothe ay beeren, Yit seyntes neverethelesse they weren.
c. 1500. Mayd Emlyn, in Anc. Poet. Tr. (1842), 20. All women be suche Thoughe the man bere the breche, They wyll be euer checkemate.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 87. The good or the euil of monasteries lyeth not in ye habite, but in the men that beare it.
c. To display on a heraldic shield; to be entitled to wear or use as coat armor.
a. 1450. Syr Eglam., 1186. He bare of Aser, a schyp of golde.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., A j. Beyng in worthenes aarmes for to bere.
1599. Thynne, Animadv., 42. The erle of Kent beareth a wiuer for his Creste and supporters.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Bear, He that has a Coat of Arms, is said to Bear it in the several Charges or Ordinaries that are in his Escutcheon.
1825. Scott, Talism. (1832), 225. The shield … bore … a serrated and rocky mountain.
7. To carry about with one, to have attached to, or impressed upon one, to own, have: a. a feature, external character, look. (= to present.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18823. Bot of his liknes þat he bare.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 339. No life … Which berth visage of mannes kinde.
c. 1550. Hickscorner, in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 171. Outward he beareth a fair face.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 470. Many Mountaines that beare shewes of Mettals.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 4, ¶ 8. Falshood … shall hereafter bear a blacker Aspect.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, iv. 28. So firm a front They bear in battle.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 142. Old Cavaliers … who bore the marks of honourable wounds.
b. a name, title, etc.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 12. 23. After which planete the day berith his name.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVII. 203. For bishopes blessed · thei bereþ meny names.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 341. The Epistle which beareth the title to the Hebrues.
1850. Prescott, Mexico, I. 63. Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the principal goddesses.
c. a reputation, praise, blame, price, value, etc.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 73. The fyfte mayster … That of wisdom bare grete loos.
1588. Munday, in Farr’s S. P. (1845), I. 230. The sweetest face … And highest head … Beare no more reckoning then the poorest slaue.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4658/2. The Blank Tickets bear seven per Cent. Interest.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), I. 331. It … is exported to India, where it bears a high price.
1845. Hood, Recipe Civiliz., Wks. (1871), 298. That which bears the praise of nations.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. ii. 17. Natural meadow bore a high rental.
8. To wield (power, sway, etc.); to hold (an office). Cf. office-bearer.
c. 1300. Beket, 2409. [He] scholde have Ibore the heritage.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., xxvii. § 11. No merchaunt … [shall] bere eny voyce ne have eny sayngs in eny Courte.
1534. Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, II. (1540), 99. In that yere that I bare roume.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Chron. xxvii. 6. Sonnes … which bare rule in the house of their fathers.
1552. Latimer, Serm., II. 138. They bear the swing, all things goeth after their minds.
1570. Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 37. To beare some office in the common wealth.
1650. R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Warres, II. 29. That they should bear all the sway.
1690. Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 42. That Office did I bear.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 671. Those great Celtic houses, which … bore rule in Ulster.
9. fig. To entertain, harbor, cherish (a feeling).
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1044. Salt ðu noȝt ðe riȝt-wise weren, Or for hem ðe toðere með beren?
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1069. Vntil his broþer nith [v.r. ire] he bare. Ibid., 12096. Ye ber him right nan au [v.r. awe].
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, F iv b. Obeysshe and bere hym honour.
1512. Act 4 Hen. VIII., xix. Pream., The true faythe that hys Highnesse berythe unto Almyghty Gode.
1538. Starkey, England, iii. (1871), 82. One beryth malyce agayn another.
1570. T. Wilson, Demosthenes, 23. Now that the Thebanes beare us the stomache, that you see they doe.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. vi. 9. The deare loue I beare to faire Anne Page.
1598. Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., IV. ix. (1622), 103. She beareth the minde to passe the rest of her life with a Gentleman of Rome.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, III. ii. 189. The contempt they bear for practical geometry.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxvi. 356. He bore her no malice.
10. To hold, maintain, possess, or have (a property or attribute, a relation to something else).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2682. Circumcising Bers in it-self gret for-biseyng.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxix. (1695), 204. Nothing finite bears any proportion to infinite.
1841. Macaulay, W. Hastings, Ess. (1851), I. 16. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. ix. 576. The relation the nobles bore to the throne.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. v. 194. The ratio which population bears to capital.
II. To sustain, support, uphold.
* To sustain weight or pressure, to endure.
11. trans. To sustain, support (a weight or strain).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xx. 12. Þe bæron byrðena, on þises dæges hætan.
c. 1375. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 66. Þei shal bere … the wiȝte of þe olde lawe.
1399. Rich. Redeless, I. 41. The braunchis aboue boren grett charge.
c. 1550. Scot. Poems 16th C. (1810), II. 160. Our seiknes on thy back thou bure.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 3. Atlas-like it seem’d the heaven they beared.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 246. Proportionate in every part to the stress it was likely to bear.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., II. ii. 79. When the ice would bear them.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, ii. (1855), 34. For the shafts do indeed bear as much as they are ever imagined to bear.
b. absol. or intr.; spec. in Building. To stand a strain without intermediate support.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 157. Timber is said to Bear at its whole length, when neither a Brick-wall, or Posts, &c. stand between the ends of it. Ibid., 136. Joysts are seldom made to Bear at above ten Foot in length.
12. fig. (of an immaterial burden, charge, cost, responsibility, etc.) Formerly also bear out.
1297. R. Glouc., 379. To bere þeruore a certeyn rente by þe ȝere.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5667. Him þat bare þe wite.
1439. E. E. Wills (1882), 125. Certayne annuities borne oute of hem [manors].
1529. More, in Four C. Eng. Lett., 12. There shall no poore neighbour … bere no losse.
1598. W. Phillips, Linschoten’s Voy., in Arb., Garner, III. 403. The Farmers bearing the adventure of the sea.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Ivstine, 24 a. Darius … promised to beare out the whole charges of those Warres.
1611. Bible, Gen. xiii. 6. The land was not able to beare them, that they might dwell together.
1769. Sterne, Serm., Yorick, v. (1773), 63. It had been … better for the nation to have bore the expence.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 263. Lewis would bear the charge of supporting two thousand of them [troops].
b. † To bear the person of: to sustain the character of, to personate (obs.). To bear a part: to sustain a part, take part, share in.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., x. (1634), 320. A vice-roy: that is, he that in the Kings absence supplieth his place and beareth his person.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. xvi. 80. He that acteth another, is said to beare his Person. Ibid., III. xlii. 267. Here wee have the Person of God born now the third time.
13. trans. To sustain successfully; fig. to stand (a strain, test, examination); to allow or admit of.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb. (1882), 60. Lx. mares … able to beare the horse.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 26. Thy great imployment Will not beare question.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 33. The ship will beare much, that is, carry much Ordnance or goods, or beare much saile.
1697. Dryden, Virg., Ded. No Modern Latin can bear criticism.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., II. 245. The ship no longer can her top-sails bear.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 137. The cable … would scarcely have borne to have been heaved up.
1838. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life & Lett. (1876), II. vii. 11. The style will not bear examination.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, i. § 15. 25. It is not less the boast of some styles that they can bear ornament.
† 14. intr. (for refl.) To hold good; to hold, stand, ‘do.’ (Cf. also bring to bear in 33.) Obs.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 199, ¶ 5. If the Matter bears, I shall not be unjust to his Merit.
1737. Waterland, Eucharist, 112. The Argument will not bear in the View before mentioned.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 227. We are going into Personals again, Gentlemen … And that wont bear.
15. To sustain (anything painful or trying); to suffer, endure, pass through: a. without any reference to the manner of bearing.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1272. And beryn … for hire sake Not I not what.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 71. Three battes hee bure, or hee his feet might find.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 210. In fureous payne, yat ye bur.
c. 1580. Amadis of Gaule, 273. This great sorow that I beare and suffer.
1718. Pope, Iliad, I. 270. The wrongs I bear from Atreus son.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. ii. 118. A melancholy pleasant to be borne.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 281. That we can bear such things and yet not die.
b. To suffer without succumbing, to sustain without giving way, to endure. Formerly with away, out (cf. hold out, stand out).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15617. Him … þat baret for yow bare.
1526. Tindale, John xvi. 12. I have yet many thynges to saye vnto you; but ye cannot beare them awaye now.
1547. Baldwin, Mor. Philos., VI. iii. Patiently beare the time.
1574. trans. Marlorat’s Apocalips, 17. Blessed is the man that beareth out temptation.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 437. The Horses can abide no cold, but the Asses and Mules bear out.
1611. Bible, Gen. iv. 13. My punishment is greater then I can beare.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 542. He who bears in Thrace the bitter Cold.
1755. Smollett, Quix. (1803), II. 143. With an intrepid heart … he bears the brunt of their whole artillery.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xiv. 215. Make it as hot as you can bear your finger in it.
1864. Daily Tel., 16 May, 5/1. We can only recommend Alphonse and Theophile … to grin and bear it; the expression, perchance, savours a little of slang.
c. To endure without opposition or resistance, to tolerate (a thing); also with inf. or subord. cl.
c. 900. Laws of Ælfred, i. (Bosw.). Ic nelle beran eowre ʓymeleaste.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12991. Na langer Mai i nu þi wicked wordes ber.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxvi. 37. The kyng myght no longer bear by his honour the iniuryes and wronges.
1659. in Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 49. I say not but the army will bear, that you sit to levy money.
1704. Rowe, Ulyss., I. i. 230. My Lords, this Railer is not to be born.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 26. The public would not have borne to see any Papist among the servants of their Majesties.
d. To reconcile oneself to, put up with, tolerate, away with. (Always negatively, interrogatively or hypothetically: often with infinitive.) Cf. ABEAR.
1710. Tatler, No. 219, ¶ 4. There is no reasonable Man can bear him half an Hour.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xii. 100. [He] could not bear to think of distressing her.
1813. Miss Austen, Pride & Prej., xv. 62. The man whom she could not bear to speak of.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., i. 2. ‘What hurt can it do you?’ ‘None, none. But I cannot bear it.’
Mod. I cannot bear antimacassars!
† 16. To bear hard, heavy or heavily (L. ægre ferre): to endure with a grudge, take (a thing) ill or amiss, have ill will to, have a resentment against; so to bear upon the spleen. Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., Introd. 10. Many beren heuy that freris ben clepid pseudo or ypocritis.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 215. Caius Ligarius doth beare Caesar hard.
1602. Life T. Cromwell, IV. ii. 112. You bear me hard about the abbey lands.
1629. J. Maxwell, trans. Herodian, I. 32. Diuers that … bore Perennius vpon the spleene, for his intolerable haughty and disdainfull Carriage.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. I. 32. The Ill Success was heavily born, and imputed to ill Conduct.
17. intr. To bear with: to put up with, be patient with, make allowance for. (With indirect passive to be borne with.)
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., IV. vii. (Arb.), 74. The heart of a man Should more honour winne by bearyng with a woman.
a. 1586. Answ. Cartwright, 72. Ignorance … is to bee borne with.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., III. ii. 110. Beare with me, my heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar.
1712. Pope, Spect., No. 408, ¶ 7. Little Irregularities are sometimes to be bore with.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, II. 223. He would bid us Bear with our miseries manfully.
1872. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 113. A foreign King had to be borne with.
** To support, keep up, maintain. Usually with up.
18. trans. To hold (up) from falling or sinking, to support, keep up.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 537. Hijs fete him bers up fra fall.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. liv. (1495), 170. The fote … beryth vp all the body.
1439. E. E. Wills (1882), 117. Ij Greffons to bere hit vppe.
1611. Bible, Judges xvi. 29. The two middle pillars … on which it was borne vp.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 50. The Water … may fill about half the Ball, that the Fishes may move, and bear themselves thereon.
b. spec. To hold up a horse’s head with a ‘bearing rein.’ To bear a rein upon: to hold in check by this means. Also fig.
1603. S. Daniel, Defence Rhime (1717), 29. The best Rein, the strongest Hand to make men keep their Way, is, that which their Enemy bears upon them.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 284. Let him [a horse with a crick in the neck] be ridden … by such a one as will bear his head, and make him to bring it in.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. City of God, 903. The hand of God bearing a raine upon our condemned soules.
† 19. trans. To uphold (any one in a course of action). refl. and intr. To exalt or lift up oneself upon, to plume oneself, presume. Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 64. Maynteynd, & born vp in iuel.
1535. Shaxton, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. II. App. lxi. 150. If yee … bear the Abbot in his evil dealing that he may escape … see yee thereto.
1565. Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 227. The truth will be able euermore to beare it selfe.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1621), 894. The Spaniards bearing themselves upon their wealth, were too proud.
1635. Naunton, Fragm. Reg. (1870), 17. The Gentleman bearing high on my Lords favor.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. vii. (1715), 67. Families … bearing themselves much higher on their Original.
20. To sustain, keep up, or keep going (the burden or bass of a song). arch.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 673. This sompnour bar to him a stiff burdoun.
1611. Cotgr., Faire le contre … to beare a burden, or sing the plain song wheron another descants.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Soliloquies, 68. Who hath heard … the bittern bearing her base in the coldest months?
1813. Scott, Rokeby, V. vii. A manly voice … Bare burthen to the music well.
21. To bear up: a. (trans.) to uphold (a principle); to keep up the spirits of (a person).
1606. Bryskett, Civ. Life, 20. Persons to assist my accuser, and beare vp his cause.
1658. (25 Jan.) Cromwell, Sp. (Carl.). To bear up our honour at sea.
1852. Hammers & Ploughshares, iv. 27. What hope have you to bear you up?
† b. refl. To exalt oneself; cf. 19. Obs.
a. 1520. Myrr. Our Ladye, 188. Thou ouercomest them that bere vp themselfe.
c. intr. (for refl.) To keep up one’s courage or spirits; to maintain one’s ground (against difficulties); not to succumb.
1656. More, Antid. Ath., I. ix. (1712), 26. Bearing up as well as they can.
1668. Child, Disc. Trade (1698), 219. The Portuguese, except they alter their politicks … can never bear up with us, much less prejudice our Plantations.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 256, ¶ 8. To bear up under Scandal and Defamation.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, Wks. 1842, II. 291. Bearing up against those vicissitudes of fortune.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., iii. 15. ‘Bear up, now, and good bye; for I’m going.’
*** To hold up, hold, have upon it.
22. To uphold, hold up, hold on top or aloft.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 369. Þe nayles three, þat paynede crist wan he was born on þe rode Tree.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XI. i. (1495), 381. Ayre … beryth the fyre and is boren of the water.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvii. 252. Eva’s little table … bore on it her favourite vase, with a single white moss rose-bud in it.
23. To have written or inscribed upon it.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., xxxviii. Preamb., Lettres patentez beryng date at Westminster the xxj day of August.
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 119. A Pillar … bare this inscription, Sacred to Diana.
1853. Phillips, Rivers Yorksh., viii. 195. Coins, bearing the effigy of the Horse.
1864. Times, 6 Dec., 12/1. These deeds bear dates from 1573 to about 1660.
b. passive. To be entered or registered in a list, on the books of any establishment, etc.
1758. J. Blake, Plan Mar. Syst., 7. Each man so listed … shall be borne upon the said ship, in the same class in which he is rated.
1803. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., V. 321. A complement of sixty men, including two boys, to be borne on the third class.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 38. Though borne on the English establishment, that regiment … had been almost exclusively composed of Scotchmen.
1863. Cox, Inst. Eng. Govt., III. viii. 724. All persons borne on the books of Queen’s ships in commission.
24. fig. To have or convey the meaning, to purport (that). arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14753. Oure lord hem ȝaf þis vnswere But þei wist not what hit bare.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (1811), 167. The Greeks call this figure Anadiplosis, I call him the Redouble as the originall beares.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 53. The description of … the Palace of Solomon bears, that it was made with smooth hard stone.
1746. Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope, 116. The Letter bears, that the pretended Prince of Wales came lately on the Coast.
b. To profess, claim, purport (to be).
1759. Robertson, in H. Campbell, Love-Lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824), 235. A French translation … bears to have been printed at Edinburgh by Thomas Waltem, 1572.
a. 1859. L. Hunt, Autobiogr., iii. (1860), 72. A portrait … bearing to be the likeness of a certain Erasmus Smith, Esq.
† 25. To bear (a thing) upon (one): to allege, charge upon, lay to the charge of. [The proper position of this sense is doubtful.]
c. 1375. Wyclif, Antecrist, 133. Crist was … beten, and skourged, and false borne upon.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 363. The seid large endewing Born upon Constantin to be mad to Silvester Pope was neuere doon.
III. trans. and intr. To push, thrust, press. [This group seems to have arisen in a transference of the sense from carry to an action producing the same result (i.e., the moving forward of a body) by a different application of force, that of continuous pressure. This once established, the extension of the idea to pressure of many kinds, both horizontal and vertical, followed. Thus there result senses of bear directly contrary to each other, as when a post bears the pressure which is brought to bear upon it, or a man bears up till calamity bears him down.]
* To push, press.
26. trans. To move (a thing) onward by force of pressure; to push, force, drive; cf. ‘carry’ in same sense.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16252. Hu þat þis folk þe beres to þe dede.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, IV. 1279. Þan pollux … Bere backeward the batell.
c. 1450. Merlin, vii. 117. He bar hym ouer the horse croupe.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 470. They … will needs bear all the world before them.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, vi. 397. Borne backward Talbot turns.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep., II. ii. (1866), 163. Bearing him off over his horse’s tail.
b. Naut. To bear off.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 44. A ship boord, beare off is used to euery thing you would thrust from you.
27. esp. To bear down, formerly also bear over (whence OVERBORNE): to push to the ground, overwhelm, overthrow, vanquish. Also fig.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. xxxi. (1495), 368. Metynge and berynge downe the fende.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1171. Hors and man down he bore.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 331. He bare it [a Door] cleane downe before him, and so escaped.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 132. The Tartars … bearing downe the world before them.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 516. He shall … beare over and kill those that stood against him.
1680. Burnet, Rochester (1692), 98. A Doctrine which was born down and persecuted.
a. 1811. Leyden, Ld. Soulis. They bore him down with lances bright.
1840. Macaulay, Ranke, Ess. (1854), 550/2. His activity and zeal bore down all opposition.
† 28. fig. To bear (one) down: to overthrow in debate; maintain one’s point against, insist in opposition to (any one). Obs.
1526. Tindale, Acts xii. 15. She bare them doune that hit was even so.
1641. Milton, Prel. Episc., Wks. (1851), 92. Though hee himselfe … should beare us downe that there bee three.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 87. [He] roundly bears us down, That two such worlds would touch without more ado.
29. intr. To press (laterally) on, to thrust at, to come with force or pressure against. arch. Also with at, to (obs.).
c. 1450. Merlin, vii. 118. Thei bar to hym so harde that Arthur was throwe to the erthe. Ibid., viii. 127. And he bar on hym so sore that he threwe the knyght to grounde.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. x. 24. The tother … Buyr at hym mychtely with a lang speyr.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4647/3. Two East-India Men … received Damage by bearing upon one another as they were sailing out of the Harbour.
b. fig. To press hard(ly) or heav(il)y upon, to affect adversely or injuriously. (In mod. use this is prob. often pictured as the downward pressure of a burden: see next.)
1699. Bentley, Phal., 272. The next will bear harder upon him.
1713. Guardian, No. 53 (1756), I. 237. I will not bear hard upon his contrition.
1834. H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xxii. (1857), 322. An open, boisterous winter, that bore heavy on the weak and aged.
1877. Tyndall, in Daily News, 2 Oct., 2/4. No great mechanical improvement … is introduced … that does not bear hardly upon individuals.
30. Transferred to downward pressure, as that of a load: a. trans. with down.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., II. 102. Bearing it [a string of an instrument] hard down with the end of your finger.
1853. Forster, Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 327. The branches … were almost borne down with the weight of the fruit.
1864. Tennyson, En. Ard., 679. The dead weight … bore it down.
b. intr. with down. Cf. BEARING vbl. sb. 8.
1835. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 17/2. A woman who ‘bears down’ … will thus accelerate her delivery.
c. intr. with on.
1829. Southey, All for Love, VI. Wks. VII. 186. While she pray’d the load of care Less heavily bore on her heart.
31. intr. To exert or transmit mechanical pressure upon, on, against (a point which sustains it); to repose one’s weight, to rest upon; also to press as a spring, to ‘thrust’ (as an arch against its piers).
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 148. This Post … bears upon the Floor.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 122. Which must bear against the Limbs of the Sector-Pieces.
1854. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem. 292. Little collars of leather … bearing against the shoulders of the apparatus.
32. To exert a practical effect or influence on or upon, to tend to affect; to have reference to, relate to, come into practical contact with, touch.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 87. Their edge bore alwayes upon J. O. either in broad meanings or in plain terms.
1794. Paley, Evid., II. vii. (1817), 187. To point out how the argument bears upon the general question.
1836. Recoll. House of Lords, viii. 155. His matter … always bears directly on the question before the House.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xii. 197. How this marriage bears on the history of Maine.
1883. Ld. Carlingford, in Echo, 1 Sept., 4/2. A … collection of artistic objects bearing on industry.
† b. To touch upon, border close upon, lie very near to (in nature or character). Obs.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1731/4. A … Coat of grey colour’d Cloth bearing upon the blew.
1835. Marryat, Jac. Faithf., xv. He related an accident … which particularly bore upon the marvellous.
33. To bring to bear: to bring into effective operation (against, upon, etc.); to bring about, to cause to act; to employ, exert. (Cf. also 14.)
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VIII. 1. Your cousin … had with difficulty brought this meeting to bear.
1775. Johnson, Lett., 127 (1788), I. 275. I am still of opinion that we shall bring the Oxford riding-school to bear.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Tale Tyne, iii. 64. Whenever legislation is brought to bear directly upon industry.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, III. iii. Randal now brought his experience and art to bear.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., xxi. 266. Before a bow could be brought to bear.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc., I. vii. 245. No human instrument has been brought to bear upon these stones.
34. Here may also be put the phrases: † To bear off: to resist and cause (a stroke) to rebound, to repel, to ward off, to ‘turn’ (a shower, etc.). Obs. To bear in, pass. to be borne in: to be forced in, impressed with force upon (the mind); in which there is also some admixture of notions belonging to I and II.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apophth., 318 b. With the sweorde wee laie on, with the bucler wee beare of.
1570. Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 112. A demie bukram cassok … which will neither beare of winde nor wether.
1641. Milton, Ch. Discip., I. Wks. (1851), 22. His Helmet, to beare off blowes in battell.
1818. Q. Rev., XVIII. 537. It had been born in upon his mind … that some great man … was to be cut off.
1852. J. H. Newman, Disc. Univ. Educ., 103. It is borne in upon the many … as self-evident, that religious men would not thus be jealous.
** To thrust (through).
† 35. trans. To thrust, pierce, stab (a person through the body, or his body through, with a spear, etc.) [Cf. the mod. ‘to run one through with a rapier’ and ‘to run a rapier through him.’] Also with other prepositions. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7625. Thoru he had his bodi born, If he ne had blenked.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1398. Than pray I the, to morwe with a spere That Arcita me thurgh the herte bere.
c. 1400. Roland, 689. He brek his sheld, and bar hym to the hert.
c. 1400. Melayne, 1395. Thurgh the schelde … He was borne with a brande.
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., xvi. He bare him inne atte the throte.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 689. To the hart he baryd hym than.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 440. They met together so furiously, that either bear other through.
*** To press oneself; move, tend, lie in a given direction. [An intransitive development of 26.]
36. intr. To press, force one’s way against resistance; to move with effort, with persistence, or with a distinct bias in some direction. Extended by many advs., as back, away, on, down.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1417. Here one, being thronged, bears back. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., III. ii. 172. Stand backe; roome, beare backe.
1742. R. Blair, Grave, 767. The … bird … claps his … wings, and bears away.
1754. P. H., Hiberniad, § 2. 14. Let any Stranger … bear away and visit the County of Wicklow.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xvi. Nearer and nearer as they bear.
1842. H. E. Manning, Serm., xviii. (1848), I. 272. The stream of this visible world, which bears down in a heavy tide away from God.
1862. Tyndall, Mountaineer, vi. 47. The queenly orb … clears the mountain, and bears splendidly away.
1872. Jenkinson, Guide Lakes (1879), 226. On arriving at the top of the crag, bear a little to the right.
37. esp. in Nautical phraseology: To sail in a certain direction; hence, To bear away: to sail away, leave. To bear down (upon or towards): to sail with the wind (towards). To bear off: see quot. To bear up: to put the helm ‘up’ so as to bring the vessel into the direction of the wind. To bear up for, or bear with (a place): to sail towards.
1605. Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 3. Beare vp, & boord em’.
1611. Bible, Acts xxvii. 15. The ship … could not beare vp into [Geneva make way against] the winde.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 44. When a ship sailes with a large wind towards the land … we say she beares in with the land … And when she would not come neere the land, but goeth more Roome-way than her course, wee say she beares off.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 210 (1810), 218. A mark to sailors, who bear with Plymouth haven.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 328. She must not make to the next safe Harbour; but … bear away for the remotest.
1799. Lond. Gaz., No. 4521/2. We all bore down to secure what Merchant ships we could.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 428, ¶ 1. People tost in a troubled Sea, without knowing to what Shore they bear.
1748. Anson, Voy., II. xi. 256. We bore down to them, and took them up.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1820. We passed the rocks, and bore up to the southward.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 98. The wind being now fair for that port, we bore away for it.
1798. Jrnl., in Nicolas, Nelson’s Disp., III. 48. Nelson immediately bore up under all sail, for Alexandria.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 397. Onwards with the favouring gale … Th’ impatient Vessel bore.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 12. They bore out to sea.
1865. Parkman, Champlain, i. (1875), 182. The voyagers … bore away for France.
b. Naut. and gen. To bear down upon: to proceed (esp. with force) towards.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5455/3. Our Fleet … bore down upon them … keeping the Wind of them.
1867. Baker, Nile Tribut., xiii. 328. A tremendous crashing in the jungle … and continued shouts … assured us that they were bearing down exactly upon our direction.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 15. Both consuls bore down on the left wing of the enemy.
38. To extend or stretch away, to continue to lie in a particular direction, as a coast line, a mountain range, etc.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 56. Such an obliquitie and winding might seem to decline and beare out too much vnto one side. Ibid., I. 73. From whence proceedeth and beareth forth the necke or cape of Peloponnesus.
1883. Harper’s Mag., Nov., 822/1. The Battenkill bears southward for twenty miles.
39. Chiefly Naut.: To lie off in a certain direction from a given point or place. (Cf. BEARING.)
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., VII. xxiv. 682. The Ship-master knowing … how the port … beareth from the place from which he departeth.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. i. 10. This is Lucentios house, My fathers beares more toward the market-place.
1668. Smith, Voy., in Misc. Cur. (1708), III. 59. Then shewed him how Constantinople beared from Candia.
1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 388. You must bring such a hill to bear directly over such a point of the shore.
1835. Sir J. Ross, N.-W. Pass., vi. 88. Possession Bay bore due west.
40. Of cannon: To lie so as to ‘cover,’ or be in position for discharging shot effectively (upon).
1692. in Capt. Smith’s Seaman’s Gram., I. xvi. 75. A piece of Ordnance doth come to bear, that is, lies right with the Mark.
1711. Bourn, in Lond. Gaz., No. 4906/2. I could not bring a Broadside to bear.
a. 1804. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 14. Our after-guns ceased to bear.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VIII. XIX. vii. 230. Finck had no artillery to bear on Daun’s transit through the Pass.
b. (causal). To direct a shot or missile.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 28. You must bear the first fired rocket above the rest.
41. Painting. Of colors: To bear out: to ‘come out’ effectively or with some effect. Cf. to bring out, and to be brought out. (rare.)
1855. J. Edwards, Oil Paint., 28. The colours of pigments ‘bear out’ with effects differing according to the liquids with which they are combined.
IV. To bring forth, produce, give birth to.
42. To bring forth, produce, yield: a. said of plants bearing leaves, flowers, fruit. Also fig.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 479 (Gr.). Déaþes béam se bær bitres fela.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. vii. 17. Ælc gód treow byrð gode wæstmas.
1297. R. Glouc., 352. To blowe, & suþþe to bere frut.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxi. Trees that beere well fruyte.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 3128. Pulled … Fro the roser that it bere.
1567. Drant, Horace’s Epist., vii. D iij. Whilst sommer swage, and the figge tree her pryme frute haue Ibore.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 422. The Oakes beare Mast, the Briars Scarlet Heps.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Low-worm, That Turmentle which bears a yellow flower.
1879. Maclear, Celts, v. 70. The good seed … sown in early years now bore fruit.
b. said of the earth, yielding vegetable productions, and fig. animals, gems, metals, etc.
1154. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1137. Þe erthe ne bær nan corn.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 85. India, black Ebon and white Ivory bears. Ibid., Eclog., IV. 29. The sacred ground Shall Weeds … refuse to bear.
1704. Addison, Italy, 1. The most uncultivated of ’em bear abundance of sweet Plants.
c. absol.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxxxiv. (1495), 654. The lasse Juniperus berith more frute than the more, but eyther beeryth.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, II. 412. Bowes for to beire in the bare winttur … she made.
Mod. A variety of apple that bears well. When does a mulberry tree begin to bear?
43. Of female mammalia, and esp. women: To bring forth, produce, give birth to (offspring).
971. Blickl. Hom., 13. Heo þone eaþmodon cyning bær.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 257. Þu bere þine helere.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 722. Sarray non childre ne bar.
c. 1300. Cursor M., 1051. Þe formast barn þat sco him bare. Ibid., 11211. Mary beere childe in chastite.
c. 1440. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xci. My dere chyldern whyche I bere as a woman bereth her chylde.
1559. Myrr. Mag., Dk. York, xi. Fower goodly boyes in youth my wife she boore.
1611. Bible, Lev. xii. 5. If she beare a maid child.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, I. (1868), 2. Your daughter Danae shall bear a son.
b. absol.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. liv. 1. Preise, thou bareyne that berst not.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 201. Women are made to beare, and so are you.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxx. 9. She had left bearing.
44. The various forms of the pa. pple. had formerly no distinction of sense. In the earlier part of the 17th c., these were borne (usual), born, bore (rare). About 1660, borne (the only spelling in Shaksp. folio of 1623) was generally abandoned, and born (cf. torn, worn) retained in all senses, with bore as a frequent variant (the latter perhaps not in sense of nātus). Dr. Johnson, in his various edd. from 1751 to 1773, says under BEAR, ‘part. pass. bore or born,’ and the same is found in other dicts. and grammars of the period. But c. 1775, a different usage (which some writers or printers had observed as early as 1750) was established: bore (common in Addison, Swift, Thomson) was abandoned, borne was reinstated, and now used as the ordinary form, and born was restricted to a specific sense. Thus, borne is now the only pa. pple., active or passive, in senses 1–42 (he has borne a burden, the tree has borne fruit, the testimony borne by him); it is also used in sense 43 in the active always, and in the passive with by and name of the mother, that is when it has the literal sense of ‘brought forth.’ Born is used only in sense 43, and there only in the passive, when not followed by by and the mother; it has rather a neuter signification = ‘come into existence, sprung’ without explicit reference to maternal action; hence it is the form used adjectively, and figuratively. Cf. ‘She had borne several children, the children borne to him by this woman, born of the Virgin Mary, born in a stable, her first-born son, a lady born, new-born zeal, a flower born to blush unseen.’
a. In senses 1–42, the following forms appear incidentally under the quotations.
Before 1660: boren, 1380, 1398; bore, 1300, 1482, 1567; born, 1300, 1375, 1380, 1382, 1400, 1449, 1611; borne, 1400, 1439, 1528, 1539, 1586, 1593, 1596, 1611, 1625, 1631.
After 1660: born, 1667, 1674, 1680, 1704, 1740, 1769, 1818 (34); bore, 1712, 1751, 1768; borne, 1758, 1788, 1793, 1795, 1802, 1803, 1816, 1849, and twenty later.
b. In sense 43; before 1660:
a. a. 1067. Chart. Eadw., in Cod. Dipl., IV. 215. Ðat cotlif ðe ic was boren inne bi naman Giðslepe.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 158. Al were he … of barain iboren.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1707. Of rachel iosep was boren.
1297. R. Glouc., 516. Thei he were a bast ibore.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4966. ‘Allas!’ … þat euer we ware Born. Ibid., 10977. Till þat he be borin.
c. 1300. Harrow. Hell, 186. That of me Shulde suche a child ybore be. Ibid., 198. David … That bore was of thyn ofspring.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 94. Never, sethe tyme that she was bor.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xlvi. 3. That ben born [1388 borun] of my wombe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 7. I-bore he was in fer contre.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., II. ix. 62. Or Jesus wes of Mary born.
c. 1425. MS. Christ was … of Virgin Marie ebore.
1470. Harding, Chron., X. iv. His mother dyed … Anone after as he was of hir bore.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. Prol. 41. The Fader of nane generat, creat, ne boyr.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 61. O Gentle blouds yborne You were not borne alonely for your selues.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxviii. (1597), 138. Full deere they were to me vnborne, at birth, and borne, and now.
a. 1593. H. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 65. Leah having borne to Jacob four sons.
1595. Spenser, Col. Clout, 839. Long before the world he was ybore. Ibid. (1596), F. Q., I. xi. 51. That was both borne and bred In hevenly throne.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxi. 7. I haue borne him a sonne in his old age.
1612. Bacon, Death, Ess. (Arb.), 388. It is as naturall to dye, as to be borne.
1614. J. Cooke, Tu Quoque, in Dodsl. (1780), VII. 19. A wench that has been bred and born in an alley.
Since 1660:
β. 1676. Hobbes, Iliad, I. 397. I have born you to Short life.
1695. Dryden, in Macaulay, Ess. (1854), II. 581/1. Whom I foresee to better fortune born.
1703. Rowe, Ulyss., I. i. 231. Wherefore art thou born … Thou Tyrant born to be a Nation’s Punishment?
1805. H. Tooke, Purley, II. (1815), 76. Born … formerly written boren, and on other occasions now written borne. Born is, Borne into life.
1830. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 149. She saw … that she, even she, had born [sic] a mighty man.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. IV. viii. 397. The porphyry chamber in which Irene had borne him—her firstborn son.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xviii. 299. A child which Julia had borne to Pompey.
b. fig. 1774. Burke, Amer. Tax., Wks. 1842, II. 432. These distinctions, born of our unhappy contest.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, Pref. 8. The Roman Empire and the Christian Church, born into the world almost at the same moment.
1866. B. Taylor, Palm & Pine, 268. What time the morningstar is born.
1875. H. E. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, i. 21. Living as if they had never been born again.
Phrase-key. To b about, 3 a; b across, 1 f; b against, 31; b arms against, 6 a; b at, 29; b away, 3 a, 15 b, 36, 37; b back, 36; b in Backgammon, 1 d; b a blow, 3 d; b the breech, 6 b; bring to b, 33; b children, 43; b company, 3 d; b the cost, 12; b down, 27, 28, 30, 36; b down upon, 37; b the face, 3 c; b fellowship, 3 d; b forth, 3 a; b fruit, 42; b a hand, 3 d; b in, on hand, 3 e; b hard, 16, 29 b; b the heart, 3 c; b heavily, 16, 29 b; b in upon one, 34; b it, 3 f; b interest, 7 c; b low sail, 3 b; b in mind, 2 b; b a name, 7 b; b off, 3 a, 26 b, 34, (Naut.) 37; b on, 29, 30 c, 31, 32, 36; b oneself, 4; b oneself upon, 19; b out, 3 a, 15 b, 41; b over, 3 a; b part in, 12 b; b person of, 12 b; b = produce, 42–3; b record, 2 c; b a rein, 18 b; b on shield, 6 c; b upon spleen, 16; b strain, 13; b sway or swing, 8; b testimony, 2 c; b through, 35; b to, 29; b up, 3 a, 18, 21, (Naut.) 37; b up for, 37; b upon, 23 b. 25, 31–3; b with, 17, (Naut.) 37; b witness, 2 c; b young, 43.
