[f. BEAR v.1 + -ING1.]
I. from BEAR v.1 I.
1. The action of carrying or conveying. In Backgammon, see BEAR v. 1 d.
c. 1384. Wyclif, De Eccl., Sel. Wks. III. 347. In þe olde lawe weren preestis and dekenes myche chargid in beryng of þe tabernacle.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), II. 645. In a beryng baskett or a lepe … I shall me conuay [over wall].
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, Pref. 3. Your yong yeares haue scarse arriued yet to the bearing of Armes.
1645. Durye, Israel’s Call, 27. To serve him in the bearing of his vessels.
1675. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, xxvi. (1680), 111. When you come to bearing, have a care of making when you need not.
b. things immaterial, e.g., the bringing forward of testimony.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVII. 360. Brawelynge and bacbytynge and beryng of false witnesse.
Mod. ‘The continual bearing of a grudge.’
2. The carrying of oneself (with reference to the manner); carriage, deportment; behavior, demeanor.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2178. Bi ȝure bering men mai it sen.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 181. Symple of beryng [v.r. attire] and deboner of chere.
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., ix. § 2. To be of goode beryng ayenst the King.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 166. That is Claudio, I know him by his bearing.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. xxii. The bearing of that stranger Lord.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, vi. 79. The … courtesy of his bearing towards women.
b. Behavior in battle, etc., achievement.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (1865), I. 3. Greet berynge and dedes of oure forme fadres.
3. Her. That which is borne upon an escutcheon; a single charge or device.
1562. Leigh, Armorie (1597), 120 b. And vpon the valence of that studie, were Scocheons of vnperfite bearing.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., Pref. When the Prince ennobled any, he vsually gaue him the particular of his Bearing in Blazon.
1790. Boswell, Johnson, II. 35. Armorial Bearings … Johnson said … were as ancient as the siege of Thebes.
1858. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), II. ii. 112. In the twelfth century armorial bearings were invented.
II. from BEAR v.1 II.
† 4. Upholding, supporting; maintenance. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron. (1809), 600. Indicted of riottes and maintenaunce of bearynges of divers misdoers within the countie.
1552. Latimer, Serm. Lord’s Pr., iii. II. 34. In the place of justice, there I have seen bearing and bolstering.
5. Sustaining, supporting, endurance.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 45. In suffrynge or beryng aduersitees and troubles.
1640. Sanderson, Serm., II. 174. Our bearing with their infirmities.
1815. T. Jefferson, Corr. (1830), 263. Considering the government of England as totally without morality, and insolent beyond bearing.
6. A material support; a supporting surface; supporting power.
a. 1300. K. Alis., 484. A goshauk with gret flyght Setlith on his beryng.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 148. This Post … bears upon the Floor, to make its Bearing the stronger.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 29. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 274. Each floor … lying upon the horizontal bearings furnished by these ledges.
1876. Handbk. Sc. App. S. Kens., 5. A greater number of bearings is required to prevent the mirror from becoming strained by its own weight.
7. Carpentry. The length of a beam between two supports, span; the distance between the cutting-edge of a tool and the rest in which it is held.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 136. This short Bearing … renders the whole Floor firm enough for all common Occupation. Ibid., 186. Its edge cutting at a greater Bearing from the Rest … it is then more subject to tremble.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 219. Bearing, the distance in which a beam or rafter is suspended in the clear.
III. from BEAR v.1 III.
8. A thrusting, pressing or straining in any direction; thrust, pressure.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Salidizo … the bearing out of a wall, Proiecta.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Bearing of an arch, or vault, denotes the efforts which the stones make to burst open the piers.
1784. Med. Commun., II. 7. Such a bearing down, as made her fearful of a miscarriage.
1797. M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 415. An inversion of the vagina is attended with a sense of bearing down.
9. Tendency to exert influence, practical relation or reference to other things; aspect.
1785. Burke, Nab. Arcot’s Debts, Wks. IV. 201. Having had … a just sense of their true bearings and relations.
1804. T. Jefferson, Corr. (1830), 18. In its unfortunate bearings on my private friendships.
1828. Southey, Ess. (1832), II. 243. The subject … was thoroughly examined in all its bearings.
1867. A. Barry, Sir C. Barry, vi. 177. The legal bearings of the case.
† 10. A taking effect; operation, effective result.
1723. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 89. Whether I shall ever be able to bring anything of this to a bearing, I know not.
† 11. Spring, elasticity. Obs. Cf. BEAR sb.3
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 118. Slower motions are made up of starts and bearings, or springsomness. Ibid., 119. A pend or earnest strift fromwards, which we call springsomness or bearing.
12. Mech. (generally in pl.) Those parts of a machine that bear the friction; the block or supports on which a shaft or axle turns, and also the part of the shaft or axle resting upon these supports. [This combines II and III of the vb.]
1791. Specif. Patent, No. 1794. Water wheels to be made and fixed upon bearings.
1793. Wollaston, in Phil. Trans., LXXXIII. 137. A better bearing, and much less likely to wear the pivots.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 139. The shafts and axles were of iron, and the bearings of brass.
1881. Print. Trades Jrnl., XXXI. 38. Heated bearings in machinery may be relieved … by the use of graphite as a lubricator.
13. The direction in which any point lies from a point of reference, esp. as measured in degrees from one of the quarters of the compass. In pl. the relative positions of surrounding objects. To take one’s bearings: to determine one’s position with regard to surrounding objects; also fig.
1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. vii. 171. Great errours not only in the situation of diuers places, but also in the bearing of places one to the other.
1711. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn., 29. When they [jockeys] design to take the Bearings of a Running Horse.
1750. Smeaton, in Phil. Trans., 5 July. To make the compass useful in taking … the bearing of headlands, ships and other objects.
1805. Flinders, in Phil. Trans., XCV. 189. On the first bearings the ship’s head was six points on one side of the meridian.
1858. in Merc. Mar. Mag., V. 229. All Bearings herein given are Magnetic.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., I. (ed. 2), 41. The difference between the sun’s true bearing and its compass bearing.
b. Mus. (see quot.)
1835. Penny Cycl., XXV. 356/2. The parts [of a piano, etc.] which are first tuned by the fifths, and from which all the others are tuned by octaves, are called bearings.
14. The direction of any line on the earth’s surface in relation to a meridian.
1802. Playfair, Illustr. Hutton. The., 229. Vertical strata, having the same bearing with respect to the meridian.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Bearing … the direction of a horizontal line, drawn in the middle plane of a vein or stratum not horizontal.
b. fig. Tendency, natural leaning, bent.
1862. Trollope, Orley F., xv. 121. In the publicity of such sympathy there was something that suited the bearings of Miss Furnival’s mind.
† 15. Mus. The variation allowed from the true pitch of a note, in tuning an instrument upon the method of unequal temperament. Obs.
1698. Wallis, in Phil. Trans., XX. 256. Pipes at equal Intervals do not give the just desired Harmony, without somewhat of Bearing.
16. Naut. ‘The widest part of a vessel below the plank-shear. The line of flotation which is formed by the water upon her sides when she sits upright with her provisions, stores, and ballast, on board in proper trim.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Wd.-bk.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 3. There doth begin the compasse and bearing of the ship.
1835. Marryat, Pirate, iii. The wind howled, and … the vessel was pressed down to her bearings by its force.
17. Comb. and attrib. in prec. senses: as, bearing-chair, -point, shaft, -surface; † bearing-back, a pedlar’s staff for carrying his pack; † bearing-cloth, a child’s christening-robe; bearing-door, (Coal-mining), one of the main doors in a pit for regulating the ventilation; † bearing-gear, the gear or apparatus (usually a twisted withe passed through the collar so as to form a loop) by which, in old times, a pair of horses supported the ends of the swingle-tree of a plow, or of the cross-bar from which the pole of a wagon was suspended; † bearing-leap, a carrying-basket; see BEAR-LEAP.
1544. Ascham, Toxoph. (1654), 115. They be good ynough for bearynge gere.
1570. Bury Wills (1850), 156. I beqwethe to my dawghter Jone Kenam one berynge sheet.
1598. Greenwey, Tacitus’ Ann., XIV. ii. (1622), 200. Agrippina … caused her-selfe to be carried to Baias in a bearing-chaire.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 341. If a child be lapped in a mantle or bearing-cloth made of an asse skin, it shall not be affrighted at any thing.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 437. A bearing back or colt staffe, as we say in English, whereupon poor men carry their burdens.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 119. Looke thee, a bearing-cloath for a Squires childe.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farm, 533. When they [horses] draw two and two together in the beare-geares … then there is needfull the plow clevise … the harnesse, the collars, the round withs or bearing geares.
1851. Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh., 24. A bearing or main door, is a door which forces the air through an entire district.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxix. 402. Passed the chain cable under the keel at four bearing-points.
IV. from BEAR v.1 IV.
18. The action of bringing forth (offspring); birth. Also in comb. child-bearing.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11079. All mad þai mirth at his bering.
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 908. As wemen … When thei ben in berung of chylde.
1611. Bible, 1 Tim. ii. 15. Notwithstanding she shall be saued in child-bearing.
b. attrib., as in bearing-pain, -place, -throe, -time.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xxi. 323. Wouldst thou haue Children? It is hee that openeth and shutteth the bearing place.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wares, VI. cv. To stay beyond the bearing-time, so long.
1787. Med. Commun., II. 227. The throes which the women call bearing pains.
19. The action of producing leaves, flowers, and esp. fruit; yielding, production.
1583. Plat, Jewell ho. (1594), 5. He did greatly backward the tree in his bearing.
1709. Stanhope, Paraphr., IV. 255. Bearing will be required from every Branch.
1861. Delamer, Kitch. Gard., 160. Wall-trees … come into early bearing.
20. That which is produced; fruit, a crop.
1838. Wordsw., Sonn., II. xix. Rich mellow bearings, that for thanks shall call.
21. Those external parts of animals that are concerned in parturition. Obs. or dial.
1674. Lond. Gaz., No. 911/4. A Bright bay Mare … lately Stackt behind under her Bearing.
1779. Phil. Trans., LXIX. 285. The teats and the external female parts, called by farmers the bearing.
