[f. BEAR sb.1 + WARD.] Also 4 bereward, 5 barreward, 5–6 berward(e (see BEARHERD).
1. The keeper of a bear, who leads it about for public exhibition of its tricks, etc.; also fig.
1399. Pol. Poems (1859), I. 364. A bereward fond a rag.
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 156. I toke to the lord Stanley is berward … vjs. viijd.
1550. Bale, Eng. Votaries, II. 118. They played with those worldly rulers … as the bearwardes do with their apes and their beares.
1644. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 95. [They] command them, as our bearwards do the bears, with a ring through the nose.
1826. Scott, Woodst., ix. The army is your bear now, and old Noll is your bearward.
† 2. The constellation Bootes, or its chief star Arcturus, from its position in reference to Ursa Major.
1483. Cath. Angl., 23/1. Barrewarde, arctophilax.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 39 b. The rising of the star called the Berward.
1883. Liddell & Scott, Grk. Lex., s.v. Ἄρκτος, The star just behind is called Ἀρκτοῦρος, Ἀρκτοφύλαξ, the Bear-ward, or Βοώτης, the Waggoner.
