| ant-bear | <zoology> An edentate animal of tropical America (the Tamanoir), living on ants. It belongs to the genus Myrmecophaga. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| bear | 1. To produce, as fruit; to be fruitful, in opposition to barrenness. "This age to blossom, and the next to bear." (Dryden) 2. To suffer, as in carrying a burden. "But man is born to bear." (Pope) 3. To endure with patience; to be patient. "I can not, can not bear." (Dryden) 4. To press; with on or upon, or against. "These men bear hard on the suspected party." (Addison) 5. To take effect; to have influence or force; as, to bring matters to bear. 6. To relate or refer; with on or upon; as, how does this bear on the question? 7. To have a certain meaning, intent, or effect. "Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform." (Hawthorne) 8. To be situated, as to the point of compass, with respect to something else; as, the land bears N. By E. To bear against, to approach for attack or seizure; as, a lion bears against his prey. To bear away, to be pointed or situated so as to affect; to be pointed directly against, or so as to hit (the object); as, to bring or plant guns so as to bear upon a fort or a ship; the artillery bore upon the center. To bear up to, to tend or move toward; as, to bear up to one another. To bear with, to endure; to be indulgent to; to forbear to resent, oppose, or punish. 1. To support or sustain; to hold up. 2. To support and remove or carry; to convey. "I 'll bear your logs the while." (Shak) 3. To conduct; to bring; said of persons. "Bear them to my house." (Shak) 4. To possess and use, as power; to exercise. "Every man should bear rule in his own house." (Esther i. 22) 5. To sustain; to have on (written or inscribed, or as a mark), as, the tablet bears this inscription. 6. To possess or carry, as a mark of authority or distinction; to wear; as, to bear a sword, badge, or name. 7. To possess mentally; to carry or hold in the mind; to entertain; to harbor "The ancient grudge I bear him." (Shak) 8. To endure; to tolerate; to undergo; to suffer. "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne." (Pope) "I cannot bear The murmur of this lake to hear." (Shelley) "My punishment is greater than I can bear." (Gen. Iv. 13) 9. To gain or win. "Some think to bear it by speaking a great word." (Bacon) "She was . . . Found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge." (Latimer) 10. To sustain, or be answerable for, as blame, expense, responsibility, etc. "He shall bear their iniquities." (Is. Liii. 11) "Somewhat that will bear your charges." (Dryden) 11. To render or give; to bring forward. "Your testimony bear" 12. To carry on, or maintain; to have. "The credit of bearing a part in the conversation." 13. To admit or be capable of; that is, to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change. "In all criminal cases the most favorable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear." (Swift) 14. To manage, wield, or direct. "Thus must thou thy body bear." . Hence: To behave; to conduct. "Hath he borne himself penitently in prison ?" (Shak) 15. To afford; to be to; to supply with. "is faithful dog shall bear him company." (Pope) 16. To bring forth or produce; to yield; as, to bear apples; to bear children; to bear interest. "Here dwelt the man divine whom Samos bore." (Dryden) In the passive form of this verb, the best modern usage restricts the past participle born to the sense of brought forth, while borne is used in the other senses of the word. In the active form, borne alone is used as the past participle. To bear down. To force into a lower place; to carry down; to depress or sink. "His nose, . . . Large as were the others, bore them down into insignificance." . To overthrow or crush by force; as, to bear down an enemy. To bear a hand. To help; to give assistance. To remove to a distance; to keep clear from rubbing against anything; as, to bear off a blow; to bear off a boat. To gain; to carry off, as a prize. To bear one hard, to owe one a grudge. "Caesar doth bear me hard." . To bear out. To maintain and support to the end; to defend to the last. "Company only can bear a man out in an ill thing." . To corroborate; to confirm. To bear up, to support; to keep from falling or sinking. "Religious hope bears up the mind under sufferings." . Synonym: To uphold, sustain, maintain, support, undergo, suffer, endure, tolerate, carry, convey, transport, waft. Origin: Bore (formerly Bare); Born, Borne; Bearing] [OE. Beren, AS. Beran, beoran, to bear, carry, produce; akin to D. Baren to bring forth, G. Gebaren, Goth. Bairan to bear or carry, Icel. Bera, Sw. Bara, Dan. Baere, OHG. Beran, peran, L. Ferre to bear, carry, produce, Gr, OSlav brati to take, carry, OIr. Berim I bear, Skr. Bh to bear. Cf. Fertile. 1. <zoology> Any species of the genus Ursus, and of the closely allied genera. Bears are plantigrade Carnivora, but they live largely on fruit and insects. The European brown bear (U. Arctos), the white polar bear (U. Maritimus), the grizzly bear (U. Horribilis), the American black bear, and its variety the cinnamon bear (U. Americanus), the Syrian bear (Ursus Syriacus), and the sloth bear, are among the notable species. 2. <zoology> An animal which has some resemblance to a bear in form or habits, but no real affinity; as, the woolly bear; ant bear; water bear; sea bear. 3. <astronomy> One of two constellations in the northern hemisphere, called respectively the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, or Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. 4. Metaphorically: A brutal, coarse, or morose person. 5. A person who sells stocks or securities for future delivery in expectation of a fall in the market. The bears and bulls of the Stock Exchange, whose interest it is, the one to depress, and the other to raise, stocks, are said to be so called in allusion to the bear's habit of pulling down, and the bull's of tossing up. 6. <machinery> A portable punching machine. 7. A block covered with coarse matting; used to scour the deck. Australian bear. <zoology> The hairy larva of a moth, especially. Of the genus Euprepia. Bear garden. A place where bears are kept for diversion or fighting. Any place where riotous conduct is common or permitted. Bear leader, one who leads about a performing bear for money; hence, a facetious term for one who takes charge of a young man on his travels. Origin: OE. Bere, AS. Bera; akin to D. Beer, OHG. Bero, pero, G. Bar, Icel. & Sw. Bjorn, and possibly to L. Fera wild beast, Gr. Beast, Skr. Bhalla bear. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bear's-breech | <botany> See Acanthus. The English cow parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bear's-ear | <botany> A kind of primrose (Primula auricula), so called from the shape of the leaf. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bear's-foot | <botany> A species of hellebore (Helleborus foetidus), with digitate leaves. It has an offensive smell and acrid taste, and is a powerful emetic, cathartic, and anthelmintic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bear's-paw | <zoology> A large bivalve shell of the East Indies (Hippopus maculatus), often used as an ornament. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| water bear | <zoology> Any species of Tardigrada. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sea bear | <zoology> Any fur seal. See Fur. The white bear. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| bearing down | Expulsive effort of a parturient woman in the second stage of labour. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bearing-down pain | A uterine contraction accompanied by straining and tenesmus; usually appearing in the second stage of labour. (05 Mar 2000) |
| reflex, let down | The let down reflex of the mother is an involuntary reflex during breastfeeding which causes the milk to flow freely. (12 Dec 1998) |
| milk let-down reflex | Release of milk from the breast following tactile stimulation of the nipple; the afferent path is postulated to exist from the nipple to the hypothalamus; the efferent limb is represented by the neurohypophysial release of oxytocin into the systemic circulation; contraction of myoepithelial elements within the breast, caused by oxytocin, moves milk into the collecting ducts and toward the nipple. Synonym: let-down reflex, milk let-down reflex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cone down | To narrow a beam of X-rays to a region of interest using a collimator or cone; colloq., to delimit one's attention or activities. (05 Mar 2000) |
| head-down tilt | Posture while lying with the head lower than the rest of the body. Extended time in this position is associated with temporary physiologic disturbances. (12 Dec 1998) |
| syndrome, down | A common disorder due to a chromosome abnormality and specfically due to an extra chromosome number 21 (trisomy 21). Down syndrome includes mental retardation, a characteristic face, and multiple malformations. It is associated with a major risk for heart problems, a lesser risk of duodenal atresia (part of the intestines not developed), and a minor but still significant risk of acute leukaemia. The name down syndrome comes from the 19th century english doctor langdon down, a misnomer since he was curiously enough not the first person to describe the condition and, in great error, attributed the condition to a reversion to the mongoloid race. Hence, the old name mongolism, now considered slang. (12 Dec 1998) |