Bear v.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Bear v.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1888, rev. 2024. Bear v.1 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.]

1   Main senses: I. to carry; II. to sustain; III. to thrust, press; IV. to bring forth.

2   I.  To carry; with its transferred and fig. senses.

3   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.

4 a. 1000.  Beowulf, 96. [Hie hina] leton holm beran, ʓeafon on gársecʓ.

5 1154.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1135. Wua sua bare his byrthen.

6 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 89. Hie … beren on here honde blostme.

7 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 209. God bar him in-to paradis.

8 c. 1380.  Wyclif, De Ps. Freris, xxii. Wks. (1880), 307. Boren aboute wiþ windis.

9 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 943. On his bak he bar … Anchises.

10 c. 1400.  Maundev., xvi. 172. Men … beeren his body in to Mesopatayme … and aftre he was broughte thidre agen.

11 c. 1450.  Bk. Curtasye, I. 114. With mete ne bere þy knyfe to mowthe.

12 1483.  Cath. Angl., 28. To bere, baiulare, portare.

13 1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 17. She hath one a’ my sonnets already, the Clowne bore it, the foole sent it.

14 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Eld. Brother, I. ii. Court-admirers … ever echo him that bears the bag.

15 1704.  Swift, Batt. Bks. (1711), 256. The other half was born by the frighted Steed thro the Field.

16 1740.  Johnson, Drake, Wks. 1787, IV. 453. Over his head was born a rich canopy.

17 1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. ii. 138. The wretch who bore them in her womb.

18 1820.  Scott, Ivanhoe, viii. He was borne senseless from the lists.

19   b.  absol. To carry burdens.

20 1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 90. Forgiuenesse, horse: why do I raile on thee, Since thou … Was’t borne to beare?

21 1611.  Bible, Gen. xlix. 15. He … bowed his shoulder to beare.

22   c.  To lift, raise, or keep up (a thing) while moving it. Obs. or arch.

23 1578.  Banister, Hist. Man, iv. 62. These two muscles baire the hand vpward.

24 1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 98. When he draws back his Saw, the Work-man bears it lightly off the unsawn Stuff. Ibid., 170. To bear their Work off the Cheeks of the Lathe.

25   d.  Backgammon: To remove a piece at the end of a game. Also absol.

26 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.

27 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.

28   † e.  To take as a companion, take along with one; to carry as a consequence. Obs.

29 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 2. After that he had faire Una lorne … And false Duessa in her sted had borne.

30 1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. i. 131. His honesty rewards him in it selfe, It must not beare my Daughter.

31   f.  To bear across: to support (things) going across.

32 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 75. Finding a bridge which bore us across the crevasse.

33   2.  fig. Said in reference to things immaterial, or to ideal carrying.

34 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. We aȝen to beren ure louerd ihesu crist on heorte.

35 a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 424. Nouðer of þe wummen ne beren … none idele talen.

36 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2201. Ful fer about men bar his name.

37 c. 1500.  Merch. & Son, in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 23. There was not oon man in all thys londe that bare a bettyr brede.

38 1552.  Huloet, Beare tale or tidynges.

39 1577.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 831/2. This pope Leo … bare but seauen and thirtie yeeres of age.

40 1725.  Pope, Odyss., XVI. 162. To the Queen with speed dispatchful bear Our safe return.

41 1768.  Blackstone, Comm., II. 242. The ancestor, during his life, beareth in himself all his heirs.

42 1805.  Southey, Madoc in Azt., ii. Wks. V. 213. [He] seem’d to bear at heart Something that rankled there.

43 1879.  Maclear, Celts, v. 79. Another … incident, which bears internal evidence of high antiquity.

44   b.  To bear in mind: to carry or keep in remembrance.

45 1538.  Bale, God’s Promyses, I. in Dodsley (1780), I. 12. To beare in mynde … The brute of thy name.

46 1539.  Taverner, Erasm. Prov., 20. Worthy … to be continually borne in mynde.

47 1852.  McCulloch, Taxation, II. iv. 199. It should … be borne in mind that this is not a mere agricultural question.

48 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 313. He promised to bear the subject in mind.

49 1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. IV. 106. Bear what I say in mind.

50   c.  To bear witness, record, testimony: to testify.

51 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6478. Ne ber þou witnes nan bot lele.

52 c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 585. Als þe buk says and bers witnes.

53 1526.  Tindale, John viii. 14. Though I beare recorde [Wyclif witnessyng, Rhem. testimonie] of my selfe, yet my recorde is true.

54 1611.  Bible, Ex. xx. 16. Thou shalt not beare false witnes against thy neighbour.

55 1671.  Milton, Samson, 1749. [He] to his faithful champion hath in place Bore witness gloriously.

56 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 508. Titles … against which he had often borne his testimony.

57   3.  With extension, and in phrases; both in lit. and fig. sense.

58   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.)

59 1823.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. xxiii. (1865), 396. To bear* about the piteous spectacle of his own self-ruins.

60 1842.  H. E. Manning, Serm. (1848), I. 317. The dying body we now bear* about.

61 c. 1450.  Rob. Hood (Ritson), I. i. 1132. And he that shoteth alder best The game shall bere* away.

62 1530.  Palsgr., 449/1. I beare* awaye as a well wytted chylde dothe his lesson, Je apprens.

63 1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, 5. Easier to beare* away and be retained in memorie.

64 1711.  Spect., No. 548, ¶ 6. Such tragedies as ended unhappily bore* away the prizes.

65 1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xiv. 114. Borne* away by their prejudices.

66 c. 1460.  Bk. Quintessence, 11. It berith* forþ þat blood anoon aftir into fleisch.

67 1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 212. This Duke had borne* forth his youth with better respect then Prince Henry his brother had done.

68 1813.  Scott, Rokeby, III. xxvi. We are enow to storm the hold, Bear* off the plunder and the dame.

69 1485.  Caxton, Paris & V., 10. Somme were that bare* out the beaulte of the syster of the Kyng.

70 1530.  Palsgr., 450/2. This felowe beareth* it out, as he were a great gentlyman.

71 1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., 128. He helpeth and beareth* out simple wittes.

72 1618.  Bolton, Florus (1636), 153. Thou didst defend thy selfe … against that people which had all the earth to backe, and beare them *out.

73 1629.  Gaule, Pract. The., 334. Yet he beares* out, As he’d preuent, or pittie the disaster.

74 1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xix. 166. You think, I suppose, that your friends … will bear you* out.

75 1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. vi. 441. A splendid panegyric which is fully borne* out by his recorded acts.

76 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.

77 1482.  Monk of Evesham (1869), 40. They ware bore* vppe an hy by the grete vyolente flamys of fier.

78 1503.  Hawes, Examp. Virt., xiii. 255. Dame grace … bare* vp her trayn.

79   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.

80 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12353. Þa oþer leonis … wiþ þaire heued þai bare logh saile.

81 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.

82 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 135 b. Our Foy gallants, unable to beare a low sayle, in their fresh gale of fortune.

83   † c.  To bear the face, the heart: to direct, turn, incline it. Obs.

84 c. 1300.  Beket, 224. The King also … bar his hurte mest: to do ther Seint Thomas.

85 c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., A. 67. Towarde a foreste I bere þe face.

86   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.

87 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12568. And quen he suld to metschip ga … Alle þai felauschip him bare.

88 1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxi. 133. We desyre you to bere vs some company of armes.

89 1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iii. 34. I doe desire thee … To beare me company, and goe with me.

90 1647.  W. Browne, Polexander, I. 116. Bajazet … bore him a blow that, in all likelyhood, should have bereft his life.

91 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. vii. (1840), 90. You have promised to bear me company.

92 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Bear-a-hand, a phrase of the same import with make haste … quick.

93 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., vi. 307. Get him to bear a hand.

94 1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., II. VII. v. 290. This pleasant streamlet … has borne us company for some time.

95   † 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.

96 c. 1300.  Beket, 909. We wolleth the bere an hond: that thu ert his traitour.

97 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 15922 (Trin.). Ȝe bere me wrong on honde.

98 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Man of L. T., 522. This false knight … Bereth hir an hand that sche hath don this thing.

99 1461.  Paston Lett., 396, II. 20. The parson of Snoryng … beryth hym a hand.

100 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 37. As Con’s Cornykle bers on hand.

101 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. xv. 103. The batellis and the weir, Quhilk eftir this he had to beir on hand.

102 1526.  Skelton, Magnyf., 357. They bare me in hande . that I was a spye.

103 1528.  More, Heresyes, I. Wks. 109/1. To dowte whither Luther himselfe … wrote in dede so euyll as he is borne in hande.

104 1547.  Homilies, I. Fear of Death, III. (1859), 103. The love which we bear in hand to bear to him.

105 1597.  Daniel, Civ. Wars, VI. xxxiii. Devotion … Bears men a Hand on their Credulity.

106 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.

107 1625.  Ussher, Answ. Jesuit, 4. Not so easie to be discerned, as fooles bee borne in hand they are.

108 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.

109   † f.  To bear it: to carry off as a prize, to ‘carry’ by assault, carry the day. Obs.

110 1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 23. So may he with more facile question beare it?

111 1612.  Bacon, Ess. (Arb.), 216. Some thinke to beare it, by … being peremptorye.

112 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Mad Lover, II. i. 7. ’Tis worth doing … but what doing beares it?.

113   4.  refl. To bear oneself: to carry, conduct or deport oneself; behave, acquit oneself. Sometimes (like behave oneself) = to conduct oneself properly.

114 a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 4. Hu me schal beren him wiðuten.

115 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron., 98. Þe gode quene gaf him in conseile, To luf his folk bituene … Bere him tille his barons.

116 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 798. Which of yow that bereth him best of alle.

117 c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), II. 524. Who-so in pride beryth hym to hye, with myscheff shalbe mekyd.

118 1530.  Palsgr., 450/1. I beare my selfe well.

119 1593.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. vii. § 10, Wks. 1841, I. 268. Who bear themselves bold upon human authority.

120 c. 1600[?].  World & Child, in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 248. Bear thee prest in every game.

121 1658.  Ussher, Ann., vi. 163. Clearchus … bearing himself for a Tyrant of Byzantium.

122 1754.  Sherlock, Disc. (1759), I. ix. 257. A Man may bear himself so well in Disguise, as not to be discovered.

123 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 618. The latest generations would know how … he had borne himself.

124   5.  To have as a member or part of the body.

125 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, E iij. And beerith talow and gris.

126 1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 309. Seruants … that bare eyes To see alike mine Honor, as their Profits.

127 1808.  Scott, Marm., VI. xvi. Eustace, thou bear’st a brain.

128 1817.  Byron, Manfred, II. iv. 92. Bear what thou borest, The heart and the form.

129   6.  To carry about with or upon one, as material equipment or ornament.

130   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.

131 a. 1000.  Beowulf, 432. Secʓas bǽron … beorhte frætwa.

132 a. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 69. Crist … ȝeue us wepne for to beren.

133 c. 1400.  Maundev., vi. 64. Thei beren but o Scheld and o Spere.

134 1568[?].  G. Ferrers, in Arb., Garner, IV. 179. Apt to bear arms.

135 1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., 60. He bure armes, and made weir against the King.

136 1769.  Robertson, Chas. V., III. XI. 316. An ample … pardon to all who had born arms against him.

137 1862.  Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. v. 94. The staff like that still borne by Arab chiefs.

138   † b.  To have upon the body (clothes, ornaments); to wear. To bear the breech: to ‘wear the breeches.’

139 c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. x. § 12. [He] bær hæt on his heafde.

140 a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 382. Ich wot swulne þet bereð boðe togedere heui brunie and here.

141 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9071. ‘Tas of’ … ‘mi kinges croun þat i na langer agh to bere.’

142 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 6240. Many … that comyn clothe ay beeren, Yit seyntes neverethelesse they weren.

143 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.

144 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.

145   c.  To display on a heraldic shield; to be entitled to wear or use as coat armor.

146 a. 1450.  Syr Eglam., 1186. He bare of Aser, a schyp of golde.

147 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, Her., A j. Beyng in worthenes aarmes for to bere.

148 1599.  Thynne, Animadv., 42. The erle of Kent beareth a wiuer for his Creste and supporters.

149 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.

150 1825.  Scott, Talism. (1832), 225. The shield … bore … a serrated and rocky mountain.

151   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.)

152 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18823. Bot of his liknes þat he bare.

153 1393.  Gower, Conf., I. 339. No life … Which berth visage of mannes kinde.

154 c. 1550.  Hickscorner, in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 171. Outward he beareth a fair face.

155 1600.  Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 470. Many Mountaines that beare shewes of Mettals.

156 1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 4, ¶ 8. Falshood … shall hereafter bear a blacker Aspect.

157 1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, iv. 28. So firm a front They bear in battle.

158 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 142. Old Cavaliers … who bore the marks of honourable wounds.

159   b.  a name, title, etc.

160 c. 1391.  Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 12. 23. After which planete the day berith his name.

161 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XVII. 203. For bishopes blessed · thei bereþ meny names.

162 1581.  Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 341. The Epistle which beareth the title to the Hebrues.

163 1850.  Prescott, Mexico, I. 63. Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of the principal goddesses.

164   c.  a reputation, praise, blame, price, value, etc.

165 c. 1425.  Seven Sag. (P.), 73. The fyfte mayster … That of wisdom bare grete loos.

166 1588.  Munday, in Farr’s S. P. (1845), I. 230. The sweetest face … And highest head … Beare no more reckoning then the poorest slaue.

167 1710.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4658/2. The Blank Tickets bear seven per Cent. Interest.

168 1816.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), I. 331. It … is exported to India, where it bears a high price.

169 1845.  Hood, Recipe Civiliz., Wks. (1871), 298. That which bears the praise of nations.

170 1866.  Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. ii. 17. Natural meadow bore a high rental.

171   8.  To wield (power, sway, etc.); to hold (an office). Cf. office-bearer.

172 c. 1300.  Beket, 2409. [He] scholde have Ibore the heritage.

173 1503–4.  Act 19 Hen. VII., xxvii. § 11. No merchaunt … [shall] bere eny voyce ne have eny sayngs in eny Courte.

174 1534.  Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, II. (1540), 99. In that yere that I bare roume.

175 1535.  Coverdale, 1 Chron. xxvii. 6. Sonnes … which bare rule in the house of their fathers.

176 1552.  Latimer, Serm., II. 138. They bear the swing, all things goeth after their minds.

177 1570.  Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 37. To beare some office in the common wealth.

178 1650.  R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Warres, II. 29. That they should bear all the sway.

179 1690.  Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 42. That Office did I bear.

180 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 671. Those great Celtic houses, which … bore rule in Ulster.

181   9.  fig. To entertain, harbor, cherish (a feeling).

182 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1044. Salt ðu noȝt ðe riȝt-wise weren, Or for hem ðe toðere með beren?

183 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].

184 1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, F iv b. Obeysshe and bere hym honour.

185 1512.  Act 4 Hen. VIII., xix. Pream., The true faythe that hys Highnesse berythe unto Almyghty Gode.

186 1538.  Starkey, England, iii. (1871), 82. One beryth malyce agayn another.

187 1570.  T. Wilson, Demosthenes, 23. Now that the Thebanes beare us the stomache, that you see they doe.

188 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. vi. 9. The deare loue I beare to faire Anne Page.

189 1598.  Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., IV. ix. (1622), 103. She beareth the minde to passe the rest of her life with a Gentleman of Rome.

190 1727.  Swift, Gulliver, III. ii. 189. The contempt they bear for practical geometry.

191 1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxvi. 356. He bore her no malice.

192   10.  To hold, maintain, possess, or have (a property or attribute, a relation to something else).

193 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2682. Circumcising Bers in it-self gret for-biseyng.

194 1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxix. (1695), 204. Nothing finite bears any proportion to infinite.

195 1841.  Macaulay, W. Hastings, Ess. (1851), I. 16. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body.

196 1857.  Buckle, Civiliz., I. ix. 576. The relation the nobles bore to the throne.

197 1863.  Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. v. 194. The ratio which population bears to capital.

198   II.  To sustain, support, uphold.

199   * To sustain weight or pressure, to endure.

200   11.  trans. To sustain, support (a weight or strain).

201 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xx. 12. Þe bæron byrðena, on þises dæges hætan.

202 c. 1375.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 66. Þei shal bere … the wiȝte of þe olde lawe.

203 1399.  Rich. Redeless, I. 41. The braunchis aboue boren grett charge.

204 c. 1550.  Scot. Poems 16th C. (1810), II. 160. Our seiknes on thy back thou bure.

205 a. 1649.  Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 3. Atlas-like it seem’d the heaven they beared.

206 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 246. Proportionate in every part to the stress it was likely to bear.

207 1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., II. ii. 79. When the ice would bear them.

208 1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, ii. (1855), 34. For the shafts do indeed bear as much as they are ever imagined to bear.

209   b.  absol. or intr.; spec. in Building. To stand a strain without intermediate support.

210 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.

211   12.  fig. (of an immaterial burden, charge, cost, responsibility, etc.) Formerly also bear out.

212 1297.  R. Glouc., 379. To bere þeruore a certeyn rente by þe ȝere.

213 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5667. Him þat bare þe wite.

214 1439.  E. E. Wills (1882), 125. Certayne annuities borne oute of hem [manors].

215 1529.  More, in Four C. Eng. Lett., 12. There shall no poore neighbour … bere no losse.

216 1598.  W. Phillips, Linschoten’s Voy., in Arb., Garner, III. 403. The Farmers bearing the adventure of the sea.

217 1606.  G. W[oodcocke], Ivstine, 24 a. Darius … promised to beare out the whole charges of those Warres.

218 1611.  Bible, Gen. xiii. 6. The land was not able to beare them, that they might dwell together.

219 1769.  Sterne, Serm., Yorick, v. (1773), 63. It had been … better for the nation to have bore the expence.

220 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 263. Lewis would bear the charge of supporting two thousand of them [troops].

221   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.

222 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.

223 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.

224   13.  trans. To sustain successfully; fig. to stand (a strain, test, examination); to allow or admit of.

225 1523.  Fitzherb., Husb. (1882), 60. Lx. mares … able to beare the horse.

226 1605.  Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 26. Thy great imployment Will not beare question.

227 1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 33. The ship will beare much, that is, carry much Ordnance or goods, or beare much saile.

228 1697.  Dryden, Virg., Ded. No Modern Latin can bear criticism.

229 1762.  Falconer, Shipwr., II. 245. The ship no longer can her top-sails bear.

230 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 137. The cable … would scarcely have borne to have been heaved up.

231 1838.  Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life & Lett. (1876), II. vii. 11. The style will not bear examination.

232 1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, i. § 15. 25. It is not less the boast of some styles that they can bear ornament.

233   † 14.  intr. (for refl.) To hold good; to hold, stand, ‘do.’ (Cf. also bring to bear in 33.) Obs.

234 1710.  Steele, Tatler, No. 199, ¶ 5. If the Matter bears, I shall not be unjust to his Merit.

235 1737.  Waterland, Eucharist, 112. The Argument will not bear in the View before mentioned.

236 1742.  Richardson, Pamela, III. 227. We are going into Personals again, Gentlemen … And that wont bear.

237   15.  To sustain (anything painful or trying); to suffer, endure, pass through: a. without any reference to the manner of bearing.

238 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1272. And beryn … for hire sake Not I not what.

239 c. 1450.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., 71. Three battes hee bure, or hee his feet might find.

240 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, II. 210. In fureous payne, yat ye bur.

241 c. 1580.  Amadis of Gaule, 273. This great sorow that I beare and suffer.

242 1718.  Pope, Iliad, I. 270. The wrongs I bear from Atreus son.

243 1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. ii. 118. A melancholy pleasant to be borne.

244 1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 281. That we can bear such things and yet not die.

245   b.  To suffer without succumbing, to sustain without giving way, to endure. Formerly with away, out (cf. hold out, stand out).

246 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 15617. Him … þat baret for yow bare.

247 1526.  Tindale, John xvi. 12. I have yet many thynges to saye vnto you; but ye cannot beare them awaye now.

248 1547.  Baldwin, Mor. Philos., VI. iii. Patiently beare the time.

249 1574.  trans. Marlorat’s Apocalips, 17. Blessed is the man that beareth out temptation.

250 1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 437. The Horses can abide no cold, but the Asses and Mules bear out.

251 1611.  Bible, Gen. iv. 13. My punishment is greater then I can beare.

252 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 542. He who bears in Thrace the bitter Cold.

253 1755.  Smollett, Quix. (1803), II. 143. With an intrepid heart … he bears the brunt of their whole artillery.

254 1796.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xiv. 215. Make it as hot as you can bear your finger in it.

255 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.

256   c.  To endure without opposition or resistance, to tolerate (a thing); also with inf. or subord. cl.

257 c. 900.  Laws of Ælfred, i. (Bosw.). Ic nelle beran eowre ʓymeleaste.

258 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12991. Na langer Mai i nu þi wicked wordes ber.

259 1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxvi. 37. The kyng myght no longer bear by his honour the iniuryes and wronges.

260 1659.  in Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 49. I say not but the army will bear, that you sit to levy money.

261 1704.  Rowe, Ulyss., I. i. 230. My Lords, this Railer is not to be born.

262 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 26. The public would not have borne to see any Papist among the servants of their Majesties.

263   d.  To reconcile oneself to, put up with, tolerate, away with. (Always negatively, interrogatively or hypothetically: often with infinitive.) Cf. ABEAR.

264 1710.  Tatler, No. 219, ¶ 4. There is no reasonable Man can bear him half an Hour.

265 1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xii. 100. [He] could not bear to think of distressing her.

266 1813.  Miss Austen, Pride & Prej., xv. 62. The man whom she could not bear to speak of.

267 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., i. 2. ‘What hurt can it do you?’ ‘None, none. But I cannot bear it.’

268 Mod.  I cannot bear antimacassars!

269   † 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.

270 c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., Introd. 10. Many beren heuy that freris ben clepid pseudo or ypocritis.

271 1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 215. Caius Ligarius doth beare Caesar hard.

272 1602.  Life T. Cromwell, IV. ii. 112. You bear me hard about the abbey lands.

273 1629.  J. Maxwell, trans. Herodian, I. 32. Diuers that … bore Perennius vpon the spleene, for his intolerable haughty and disdainfull Carriage.

274 a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. I. 32. The Ill Success was heavily born, and imputed to ill Conduct.

275   17.  intr. To bear with: to put up with, be patient with, make allowance for. (With indirect passive to be borne with.)

276 a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., IV. vii. (Arb.), 74. The heart of a man Should more honour winne by bearyng with a woman.

277 a. 1586.  Answ. Cartwright, 72. Ignorance … is to bee borne with.

278 1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., III. ii. 110. Beare with me, my heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar.

279 1712.  Pope, Spect., No. 408, ¶ 7. Little Irregularities are sometimes to be bore with.

280 1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, II. 223. He would bid us Bear with our miseries manfully.

281 1872.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 113. A foreign King had to be borne with.

282   ** To support, keep up, maintain. Usually with up.

283   18.  trans. To hold (up) from falling or sinking, to support, keep up.

284 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 537. Hijs fete him bers up fra fall.

285 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. liv. (1495), 170. The fote … beryth vp all the body.

286 1439.  E. E. Wills (1882), 117. Ij Greffons to bere hit vppe.

287 1611.  Bible, Judges xvi. 29. The two middle pillars … on which it was borne vp.

288 1684.  R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 50. The Water … may fill about half the Ball, that the Fishes may move, and bear themselves thereon.

289   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.

290 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.

291 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.

292 1610.  Healey, St. Aug. City of God, 903. The hand of God bearing a raine upon our condemned soules.

293   † 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.

294 c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 64. Maynteynd, & born vp in iuel.

295 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.

296 1565.  Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 227. The truth will be able euermore to beare it selfe.

297 1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1621), 894. The Spaniards bearing themselves upon their wealth, were too proud.

298 1635.  Naunton, Fragm. Reg. (1870), 17. The Gentleman bearing high on my Lords favor.

299 1697.  Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. vii. (1715), 67. Families … bearing themselves much higher on their Original.

300   20.  To sustain, keep up, or keep going (the burden or bass of a song). arch.

301 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 673. This sompnour bar to him a stiff burdoun.

302 1611.  Cotgr., Faire le contre … to beare a burden, or sing the plain song wheron another descants.

303 a. 1656.  Bp. Hall, Soliloquies, 68. Who hath heard … the bittern bearing her base in the coldest months?

304 1813.  Scott, Rokeby, V. vii. A manly voice … Bare burthen to the music well.

305   21.  To bear up: a. (trans.) to uphold (a principle); to keep up the spirits of (a person).

306 1606.  Bryskett, Civ. Life, 20. Persons to assist my accuser, and beare vp his cause.

307 1658.  (25 Jan.) Cromwell, Sp. (Carl.). To bear up our honour at sea.

308 1852.  Hammers & Ploughshares, iv. 27. What hope have you to bear you up?

309   † b.  refl. To exalt oneself; cf. 19. Obs.

310 a. 1520.  Myrr. Our Ladye, 188. Thou ouercomest them that bere vp themselfe.

311   c.  intr. (for refl.) To keep up one’s courage or spirits; to maintain one’s ground (against difficulties); not to succumb.

312 1656.  More, Antid. Ath., I. ix. (1712), 26. Bearing up as well as they can.

313 1668.  Child, Disc. Trade (1698), 219. The Portuguese, except they alter their politicks … can never bear up with us, much less prejudice our Plantations.

314 1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 256, ¶ 8. To bear up under Scandal and Defamation.

315 1796.  Burke, Regic. Peace, Wks. 1842, II. 291. Bearing up against those vicissitudes of fortune.

316 1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., iii. 15. ‘Bear up, now, and good bye; for I’m going.’

317   *** To hold up, hold, have upon it.

318   22.  To uphold, hold up, hold on top or aloft.

319 c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 369. Þe nayles three, þat paynede crist wan he was born on þe rode Tree.

320 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XI. i. (1495), 381. Ayre … beryth the fyre and is boren of the water.

321 1852.  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.

322   23.  To have written or inscribed upon it.

323 1503–4.  Act 19 Hen. VII., xxxviii. Preamb., Lettres patentez beryng date at Westminster the xxj day of August.

324 1660.  Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 119. A Pillar … bare this inscription, Sacred to Diana.

325 1853.  Phillips, Rivers Yorksh., viii. 195. Coins, bearing the effigy of the Horse.

326 1864.  Times, 6 Dec., 12/1. These deeds bear dates from 1573 to about 1660.

327   b.  passive. To be entered or registered in a list, on the books of any establishment, etc.

328 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.

329 1803.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., V. 321. A complement of sixty men, including two boys, to be borne on the third class.

330 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 38. Though borne on the English establishment, that regiment … had been almost exclusively composed of Scotchmen.

331 1863.  Cox, Inst. Eng. Govt., III. viii. 724. All persons borne on the books of Queen’s ships in commission.

332   24.  fig. To have or convey the meaning, to purport (that). arch.

333 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14753. Oure lord hem ȝaf þis vnswere But þei wist not what hit bare.

334 1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (1811), 167. The Greeks call this figure Anadiplosis, I call him the Redouble as the originall beares.

335 1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 53. The description of … the Palace of Solomon bears, that it was made with smooth hard stone.

336 1746.  Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope, 116. The Letter bears, that the pretended Prince of Wales came lately on the Coast.

337   b.  To profess, claim, purport (to be).

338 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.

339 a. 1859.  L. Hunt, Autobiogr., iii. (1860), 72. A portrait … bearing to be the likeness of a certain Erasmus Smith, Esq.

340   † 25.  To bear (a thing) upon (one): to allege, charge upon, lay to the charge of. [The proper position of this sense is doubtful.]

341 c. 1375.  Wyclif, Antecrist, 133. Crist was … beten, and skourged, and false borne upon.

342 c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 363. The seid large endewing Born upon Constantin to be mad to Silvester Pope was neuere doon.

343   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.]

344   * To push, press.

345   26.  trans. To move (a thing) onward by force of pressure; to push, force, drive; cf. ‘carry’ in same sense.

346 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 16252. Hu þat þis folk þe beres to þe dede.

347 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, IV. 1279. Þan pollux … Bere backeward the batell.

348 c. 1450.  Merlin, vii. 117. He bar hym ouer the horse croupe.

349 1652.  Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 470. They … will needs bear all the world before them.

350 1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, vi. 397. Borne backward Talbot turns.

351 1855.  Motley, Dutch Rep., II. ii. (1866), 163. Bearing him off over his horse’s tail.

352   b.  Naut. To bear off.

353 1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 44. A ship boord, beare off is used to euery thing you would thrust from you.

354   27.  esp. To bear down, formerly also bear over (whence OVERBORNE): to push to the ground, overwhelm, overthrow, vanquish. Also fig.

355 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. xxxi. (1495), 368. Metynge and berynge downe the fende.

356 c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1171. Hors and man down he bore.

357 1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 331. He bare it [a Door] cleane downe before him, and so escaped.

358 1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 132. The Tartars … bearing downe the world before them.

359 1633.  Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 516. He shall … beare over and kill those that stood against him.

360 1680.  Burnet, Rochester (1692), 98. A Doctrine which was born down and persecuted.

361 a. 1811.  Leyden, Ld. Soulis. They bore him down with lances bright.

362 1840.  Macaulay, Ranke, Ess. (1854), 550/2. His activity and zeal bore down all opposition.

363   † 28.  fig. To bear (one) down: to overthrow in debate; maintain one’s point against, insist in opposition to (any one). Obs.

364 1526.  Tindale, Acts xii. 15. She bare them doune that hit was even so.

365 1641.  Milton, Prel. Episc., Wks. (1851), 92. Though hee himselfe … should beare us downe that there bee three.

366 1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 87. [He] roundly bears us down, That two such worlds would touch without more ado.

367   29.  intr. To press (laterally) on, to thrust at, to come with force or pressure against. arch. Also with at, to (obs.).

368 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.

369 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, X. x. 24. The tother … Buyr at hym mychtely with a lang speyr.

370 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.

371   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.)

372 1699.  Bentley, Phal., 272. The next will bear harder upon him.

373 1713.  Guardian, No. 53 (1756), I. 237. I will not bear hard upon his contrition.

374 1834.  H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xxii. (1857), 322. An open, boisterous winter, that bore heavy on the weak and aged.

375 1877.  Tyndall, in Daily News, 2 Oct., 2/4. No great mechanical improvement … is introduced … that does not bear hardly upon individuals.

376   30.  Transferred to downward pressure, as that of a load: a. trans. with down.

377 1674.  Playford, Skill Mus., II. 102. Bearing it [a string of an instrument] hard down with the end of your finger.

378 1853.  Forster, Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 327. The branches … were almost borne down with the weight of the fruit.

379 1864.  Tennyson, En. Ard., 679. The dead weight … bore it down.

380   b.  intr. with down. Cf. BEARING vbl. sb. 8.

381 1835.  Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 17/2. A woman who ‘bears down’ … will thus accelerate her delivery.

382   c.  intr. with on.

383 1829.  Southey, All for Love, VI. Wks. VII. 186. While she pray’d the load of care Less heavily bore on her heart.

384   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).

385 1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 148. This Post … bears upon the Floor.

386 1715.  Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 122. Which must bear against the Limbs of the Sector-Pieces.

387 1854.  Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem. 292. Little collars of leather … bearing against the shoulders of the apparatus.

388   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.

389 1672.  Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 87. Their edge bore alwayes upon J. O. either in broad meanings or in plain terms.

390 1794.  Paley, Evid., II. vii. (1817), 187. To point out how the argument bears upon the general question.

391 1836.  Recoll. House of Lords, viii. 155. His matter … always bears directly on the question before the House.

392 1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xii. 197. How this marriage bears on the history of Maine.

393 1883.  Ld. Carlingford, in Echo, 1 Sept., 4/2. A … collection of artistic objects bearing on industry.

394   † b.  To touch upon, border close upon, lie very near to (in nature or character). Obs.

395 1682.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1731/4. A … Coat of grey colour’d Cloth bearing upon the blew.

396 1835.  Marryat, Jac. Faithf., xv. He related an accident … which particularly bore upon the marvellous.

397   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.)

398 1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VIII. 1. Your cousin … had with difficulty brought this meeting to bear.

399 1775.  Johnson, Lett., 127 (1788), I. 275. I am still of opinion that we shall bring the Oxford riding-school to bear.

400 1833.  Ht. Martineau, Tale Tyne, iii. 64. Whenever legislation is brought to bear directly upon industry.

401 1853.  Lytton, My Novel, III. iii. Randal now brought his experience and art to bear.

402 1866.  Kingsley, Herew., xxi. 266. Before a bow could be brought to bear.

403 1871.  Tyndall, Fragm. Sc., I. vii. 245. No human instrument has been brought to bear upon these stones.

404   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.

405 1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apophth., 318 b. With the sweorde wee laie on, with the bucler wee beare of.

406 1570.  Ascham, Scholem. (1863), 112. A demie bukram cassok … which will neither beare of winde nor wether.

407 1641.  Milton, Ch. Discip., I. Wks. (1851), 22. His Helmet, to beare off blowes in battell.

408 1818.  Q. Rev., XVIII. 537. It had been born in upon his mind … that some great man … was to be cut off.

409 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.

410   ** To thrust (through).

411   † 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.

412 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7625. Thoru he had his bodi born, If he ne had blenked.

413 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1398. Than pray I the, to morwe with a spere That Arcita me thurgh the herte bere.

414 c. 1400.  Roland, 689. He brek his sheld, and bar hym to the hert.

415 c. 1400.  Melayne, 1395. Thurgh the schelde … He was borne with a brande.

416 c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., xvi. He bare him inne atte the throte.

417 c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 689. To the hart he baryd hym than.

418 1470–85.  Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 440. They met together so furiously, that either bear other through.

419   *** To press oneself; move, tend, lie in a given direction. [An intransitive development of 26.]

420   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.

421 1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1417. Here one, being thronged, bears back. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., III. ii. 172. Stand backe; roome, beare backe.

422 1742.  R. Blair, Grave, 767. The … bird … claps his … wings, and bears away.

423 1754.  P. H., Hiberniad, § 2. 14. Let any Stranger … bear away and visit the County of Wicklow.

424 1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. xvi. Nearer and nearer as they bear.

425 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.

426 1862.  Tyndall, Mountaineer, vi. 47. The queenly orb … clears the mountain, and bears splendidly away.

427 1872.  Jenkinson, Guide Lakes (1879), 226. On arriving at the top of the crag, bear a little to the right.

428   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.

429 1605.  Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 3. Beare vp, & boord em’.

430 1611.  Bible, Acts xxvii. 15. The ship … could not beare vp into [Geneva make way against] the winde.

431 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.

432 c. 1630.  Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 210 (1810), 218. A mark to sailors, who bear with Plymouth haven.

433 1699.  Bentley, Phal., 328. She must not make to the next safe Harbour; but … bear away for the remotest.

434 1799.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4521/2. We all bore down to secure what Merchant ships we could.

435 1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 428, ¶ 1. People tost in a troubled Sea, without knowing to what Shore they bear.

436 1748.  Anson, Voy., II. xi. 256. We bore down to them, and took them up.

437 1772–84.  Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1820. We passed the rocks, and bore up to the southward.

438 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 98. The wind being now fair for that port, we bore away for it.

439 1798.  Jrnl., in Nicolas, Nelson’s Disp., III. 48. Nelson immediately bore up under all sail, for Alexandria.

440 1812.  J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 397. Onwards with the favouring gale … Th’ impatient Vessel bore.

441 1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 12. They bore out to sea.

442 1865.  Parkman, Champlain, i. (1875), 182. The voyagers … bore away for France.

443   b.  Naut. and gen. To bear down upon: to proceed (esp. with force) towards.

444 1716.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5455/3. Our Fleet … bore down upon them … keeping the Wind of them.

445 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.

446 1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 15. Both consuls bore down on the left wing of the enemy.

447   38.  To extend or stretch away, to continue to lie in a particular direction, as a coast line, a mountain range, etc.

448 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.

449 1883.  Harper’s Mag., Nov., 822/1. The Battenkill bears southward for twenty miles.

450   39.  Chiefly Naut.: To lie off in a certain direction from a given point or place. (Cf. BEARING.)

451 1594.  Blundevil, Exerc., VII. xxiv. 682. The Ship-master knowing … how the port … beareth from the place from which he departeth.

452 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. i. 10. This is Lucentios house, My fathers beares more toward the market-place.

453 1668.  Smith, Voy., in Misc. Cur. (1708), III. 59. Then shewed him how Constantinople beared from Candia.

454 1765.  Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 388. You must bring such a hill to bear directly over such a point of the shore.

455 1835.  Sir J. Ross, N.-W. Pass., vi. 88. Possession Bay bore due west.

456   40.  Of cannon: To lie so as to ‘cover,’ or be in position for discharging shot effectively (upon).

457 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.

458 1711.  Bourn, in Lond. Gaz., No. 4906/2. I could not bring a Broadside to bear.

459 a. 1804.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 14. Our after-guns ceased to bear.

460 1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VIII. XIX. vii. 230. Finck had no artillery to bear on Daun’s transit through the Pass.

461   b.  (causal). To direct a shot or missile.

462 1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 28. You must bear the first fired rocket above the rest.

463   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.)

464 1855.  J. Edwards, Oil Paint., 28. The colours of pigments ‘bear out’ with effects differing according to the liquids with which they are combined.

465   IV.  To bring forth, produce, give birth to.

466   42.  To bring forth, produce, yield: a. said of plants bearing leaves, flowers, fruit. Also fig.

467 a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 479 (Gr.). Déaþes béam se bær bitres fela.

468 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. vii. 17. Ælc gód treow byrð gode wæstmas.

469 1297.  R. Glouc., 352. To blowe, & suþþe to bere frut.

470 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxi. Trees that beere well fruyte.

471 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3128. Pulled … Fro the roser that it bere.

472 1567.  Drant, Horace’s Epist., vii. D iij. Whilst sommer swage, and the figge tree her pryme frute haue Ibore.

473 1607.  Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 422. The Oakes beare Mast, the Briars Scarlet Heps.

474 1725.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Low-worm, That Turmentle which bears a yellow flower.

475 1879.  Maclear, Celts, v. 70. The good seed … sown in early years now bore fruit.

476   b.  said of the earth, yielding vegetable productions, and fig. animals, gems, metals, etc.

477 1154.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1137. Þe erthe ne bær nan corn.

478 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.

479 1704.  Addison, Italy, 1. The most uncultivated of ’em bear abundance of sweet Plants.

480   c.  absol.

481 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxxxiv. (1495), 654. The lasse Juniperus berith more frute than the more, but eyther beeryth.

482 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, II. 412. Bowes for to beire in the bare winttur … she made.

483 Mod.  A variety of apple that bears well. When does a mulberry tree begin to bear?

484   43.  Of female mammalia, and esp. women: To bring forth, produce, give birth to (offspring).

485 971.  Blickl. Hom., 13. Heo þone eaþmodon cyning bær.

486 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 257. Þu bere þine helere.

487 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 722. Sarray non childre ne bar.

488 c. 1300.  Cursor M., 1051. Þe formast barn þat sco him bare. Ibid., 11211. Mary beere childe in chastite.

489 c. 1440.  Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xci. My dere chyldern whyche I bere as a woman bereth her chylde.

490 1559.  Myrr. Mag., Dk. York, xi. Fower goodly boyes in youth my wife she boore.

491 1611.  Bible, Lev. xii. 5. If she beare a maid child.

492 1855.  Kingsley, Heroes, I. (1868), 2. Your daughter Danae shall bear a son.

493   b.  absol.

494 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. liv. 1. Preise, thou bareyne that berst not.

495 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 201. Women are made to beare, and so are you.

496 1611.  Bible, Gen. xxx. 9. She had left bearing.

497   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.’

498   a.  In senses 1–42, the following forms appear incidentally under the quotations.

499   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.

500   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.

501   b.  In sense 43; before 1660:

502   a.  a. 1067.  Chart. Eadw., in Cod. Dipl., IV. 215. Ðat cotlif ðe ic was boren inne bi naman Giðslepe.

503 a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 158. Al were he … of barain iboren.

504 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1707. Of rachel iosep was boren.

505 1297.  R. Glouc., 516. Thei he were a bast ibore.

506 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4966. ‘Allas!’ … þat euer we ware Born. Ibid., 10977. Till þat he be borin.

507 c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 186. That of me Shulde suche a child ybore be. Ibid., 198. David … That bore was of thyn ofspring.

508 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, II. 94. Never, sethe tyme that she was bor.

509 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. xlvi. 3. That ben born [1388 borun] of my wombe.

510 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 7. I-bore he was in fer contre.

511 c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., II. ix. 62. Or Jesus wes of Mary born.

512 c. 1425.  MS. Christ was … of Virgin Marie ebore.

513 1470.  Harding, Chron., X. iv. His mother dyed … Anone after as he was of hir bore.

514 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, X. Prol. 41. The Fader of nane generat, creat, ne boyr.

515 1576.  Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 61. O Gentle blouds yborne You were not borne alonely for your selues.

516 1589.  Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxviii. (1597), 138. Full deere they were to me vnborne, at birth, and borne, and now.

517 a. 1593.  H. Smith, Wks. (1867), II. 65. Leah having borne to Jacob four sons.

518 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.

519 1611.  Bible, Gen. xxi. 7. I haue borne him a sonne in his old age.

520 1612.  Bacon, Death, Ess. (Arb.), 388. It is as naturall to dye, as to be borne.

521 1614.  J. Cooke, Tu Quoque, in Dodsl. (1780), VII. 19. A wench that has been bred and born in an alley.

522   Since 1660:

523   β.  1676.  Hobbes, Iliad, I. 397. I have born you to Short life.

524 1695.  Dryden, in Macaulay, Ess. (1854), II. 581/1. Whom I foresee to better fortune born.

525 1703.  Rowe, Ulyss., I. i. 231. Wherefore art thou born … Thou Tyrant born to be a Nation’s Punishment?

526 1805.  H. Tooke, Purley, II. (1815), 76. Born … formerly written boren, and on other occasions now written borne. Born is, Borne into life.

527 1830.  Carlyle, Misc. (1857), II. 149. She saw … that she, even she, had born [sic] a mighty man.

528 1855.  Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. IV. viii. 397. The porphyry chamber in which Irene had borne him—her firstborn son.

529 1879.  Froude, Cæsar, xviii. 299. A child which Julia had borne to Pompey.

530   b.  fig.  1774.  Burke, Amer. Tax., Wks. 1842, II. 432. These distinctions, born of our unhappy contest.

531 1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, Pref. 8. The Roman Empire and the Christian Church, born into the world almost at the same moment.

532 1866.  B. Taylor, Palm & Pine, 268. What time the morningstar is born.

533 1875.  H. E. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, i. 21. Living as if they had never been born again.

534
  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.

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