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Bear vs Bears - What's the difference?

bear | bears |

As a pronoun bear

is .

As a noun bears is

.

As a verb bears is

(bear).

bear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), from (etyl) ). (etymology notes) This is generally taken to be from (etyl) ), related to (m) and (m). The Germanic languages replaced the older name of the bear, , with the epithet "brown one", presumably due to taboo avoidance; compare (etyl) , literally “honey-eater”. However, Ringe (2006:106) doubts the existence of a root *b?er- meaning "brown" ("an actual PIE word of [the requisite] shape and meaning is not recoverable") and suggests that a derivation from (etyl) "should therefore perhaps be preferred", implying a Germanic merger of *??w'' and ''*g??'' (''*g??'' may sometimes result in Germanic ''*b'', perhaps e.g. in '''', but it also seems to have given the ''g'' in ''gun'' and the ''w'' in ''warm .)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A large omnivorous mammal, related to the dog and raccoon, having shaggy hair, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of family Ursidae, particularly of subfamily .
  • (figuratively) A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person.
  • (finance) An investor who sells commodities, securities
  • (slang, US) A state policeman (short for smokey bear).
  • * 1976 June, CB Magazine , Communications Publication Corporation, Oklahoma City, June 40/3:
  • ‘The bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,’ reported someone else.
  • (slang) A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual.
  • * 1990 , "Bears, gay men subculture materials" (publication title, , Collection Level Periodical Record):
  • * 2004 , Richard Goldstein, Why I'm Not a Bear'', in ''The Advocate , number 913, 27 April 2004, page 72:
  • I have everything it takes to be a bear : broad shoulders, full beard, semibald pate, and lots of body hair. But I don't want to be a fetish.
  • * 2006 , Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, Human sexuality :
  • There are numerous social organizations for bears in most parts of the United States. Lesbians don't have such prominent sexual subcultures as gay men, although, as just mentioned, some lesbians are into BDSM practices.
  • (engineering) A portable punching machine.
  • (nautical) A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.
  • Synonyms
    * (large omnivorous mammal) see * see * (police officer) see
    Antonyms
    * (investor who anticipates falling prices) bull
    Derived terms
    * ant bear * Atlas bear * bear cat/bearcat * bear claw * bear cub * bear grass * bear hug * bear market * bearish * bearly * bear pit * bear's breech * bear spread * beartrap/bear trap * bear walker * black bear * brown bear * cat bear * cave bear * dancing bear * does a bear shit in the woods * Etruscan bear * Gobi bear * Great Bear * grizzly bear * gummy bear * honey bear * koala bear * kodiak bear/Kodiak bear * Little Bear * loaded for bear * mama bear * mamma bear * moon bear * native bear * panda bear * polar bear * she-bear * sloth bear * spectacled bear * sun bear * teddy bear * washing bear * water bear * white bear * wooly bear/woolly bear

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (finance) To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in.
  • to bear a railroad stock
    to bear the market

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (finance, investments) Characterized by or believing to benefit of declining prices in securities markets.
  • The great bear market starting in 1929 scared a whole generation of investors.

    See also

    * ursine * *

    References

    * Donald A. Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic'' (2006), ''Linguistic history of English, vol. 1 , Oxford: Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-955229-0)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To support or sustain; to hold up.
  • This stone bears most of the weight.
  • To carry something.
  • * (rfdate), (Shakespeare):
  • I'll bear your logs the while.
  • * 2005 , Lesley Brown, translator, :
  • imitations that bear the same name as the things
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page=266 citation
  • , passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=1954
  • , month=03 , first=Ray , last=Bradbury , title=All Summer in a Day , volume=6 , issue=3 , page=122 , magazine=The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , publisher=Fantasy House, Inc. , issn= citation , passage=They surged about her, caught her up and bore her }}
  • To be equipped with (something).
  • the right to bear arms
  • To wear or display.
  • The shield bore a red cross.
  • To declare as testimony.
  • The jury could see he was bearing''' false '''witness .
  • To put up with something.
  • I would never move to Texas—I can't bear heat.
    Please bear with me as I ramble on and on about nothing very important, such as that time when I was in Montana and I may have seen a mountain lion, but it was pretty far off and it was raining—the weather, not the lion—and the car broke down...
  • To give birth to someone or something (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object).
  • In Troy she becomes Paris’ wife, bearing him several children, all of whom die in infancy.
  • (ambitransitive) To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.
  • * (rfdate), (John Dryden)
  • this age to blossom, and the next to bear
  • To be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere).
  • The harbour bears north by northeast.
    By my readings, we're bearing due south, so we should turn about ten degrees east.
    Great Falls bears north of Bozeman.
  • To suffer, as in carrying a burden.
  • * (rfdate) (Alexander Pope):
  • Man is born to bear .
  • To endure with patience; to be patient.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
  • I cannot, cannot bear .
  • To press; with on'', ''upon'', or ''against .
  • * (rfdate) (Addison):
  • These men bear hard on the suspected party.
  • To take effect; to have influence or force.
  • to bring matters to bear
  • To relate or refer; with on'' or ''upon .
  • How does this bear on the question?
  • To have a certain meaning, intent, or effect.
  • * (rfdate) (Nathaniel Hawthorne):
  • Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform.
  • (obsolete) To conduct; to bring (a person).
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare):
  • Bear them to my house.
  • To possess and use (power, etc.); to exercise.
  • * (rfdate) Bible, Esther 1.22:
  • Every man should bear rule in his own house.
  • To possess mentally; to carry or hold in the mind; to entertain; to harbour.
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare):
  • the ancient grudge I bear him
  • (obsolete) To gain or win.
  • * (rfdate) (Francis Bacon):
  • Some think to bear it by speaking a great word.
  • * (rfdate) (Latimer):
  • She was found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge.
  • To sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.).
  • * (rfdate) Bible, Isaiah 53:11:
  • He shall bear their iniquities.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
  • somewhat that will bear your charges
  • To carry on, or maintain; to have.
  • * (rfdate) (John Locke):
  • the credit of bearing a part in the conversation
  • To admit or be capable of; to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change.
  • * (rfdate) (Jonathan Swift):
  • In all criminal cases the most favourable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear .
  • To manage, wield, or direct; to behave or conduct (oneself).
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare):
  • Thus must thou thy body bear .
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare):
  • Hath he borne himself penitently in prison?
  • To afford; to be (something) to; to supply with.
  • * (rfdate) (Alexander Pope):
  • His faithful dog shall bear him company.
    Usage notes
    * The past participle of bear'' is usually ''borne : ** He could not have borne that load. ** She had borne five children. ** This is not to be borne ! * However, when bear'' means "to give birth to" (literally or figuratively), the passive past participle is ''born : ** She was born on May 3. ** Born three years earlier, he was the eldest of his siblings. ** "The idea to create [the Blue Ridge Parkway] was born in the travail of the Great Depression ." (Tim Pegram, The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger's Memoir , ISBN 0786431407, 2007, page 1) * Both spellings are used in the construction born(e) to someone (as a child): ** He was born(e) to Mr. Smith. ** She was born(e) to the most powerful family in the city. ** "[M]y father was borne to a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, both devout Lutherans." (David Ross, Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds , ISBN 1452450323, 2009)
    Derived terms
    * bear down * bear down on * bear fruit * bear in mind * bear out * bear up * bear with * bear witness * bring to bear * not bear thinking about * outbear

    Statistics

    *

    bears

    English

    Noun

    (head) (p)
  • See also

    * *

    Verb

    (head)
  • (bear)
  • Anagrams

    * * * * * ----