bear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bâr
ipa: /bɛə/
ipa: /bɛː/
ipa: /bɛəɹ/
ipa: /beː/
ipa: [beː~bɛː]
ipa: /ˈbiːə(r)/
ipa: /bɛː(r)/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /beə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /biə/
ipa: /beɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /bɜː(ɹ)/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
homophone: bare
homophone: beer (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: burr (fair–fur merger)
ipa: /bɑɹ/
homophone: bar stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
Forms: form: bears
Etymology: From Middle English bere, from Old English bera, from Proto-West Germanic *berō, from Proto-Germanic *berô, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Boar, Boare (“bear”), West Frisian bear (“bear”), Cimbrian, Mòcheno per (“bear”), Dutch beer (“bear”), German Bär (“bear”), German Low German Boor (“bear”), Limburgish baer, Béër (“bear”), Luxembourgish Bier (“bear”), Vilamovian baor, bar (“bear”), West Flemish beir (“bear”), Yiddish בער (ber, “bear”), Danish, Faroese and Norwegian Bokmål bjørn (“bear”), Icelandic, Swedish björn (“bear”), Norwegian Nynorsk bjøinn, bjønn, bjørn (“bear”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰 (*baira, “bear”).
etymology notes
This is generally taken to be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“shining, brown”) (compare Tocharian A parno, Tocharian B perne (“radiant, luminous”), Lithuanian bė́ras (“brown”)), related to brown, bruin, and beaver.
On this theory, the Germanic languages replaced the older name of the bear, *h₂ŕ̥tḱos, with the epithet "brown one", presumably due to taboo avoidance; compare Russian медве́дь (medvédʹ, “bear”, literally “honey-eater”).
However, Ringe (2006:106) doubts the existence of a root *bʰer- meaning "brown" ("an actual PIE word of [the requisite] shape and meaning is not recoverable") and suggests that a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwer- (“wild animal”) "should therefore perhaps be preferred", implying a Germanic merger of *ǵʰw and *gʷʰ (*gʷʰ may sometimes result in Germanic *b, perhaps e.g. in *bidjaną, but it also seems to have given the g in gun and the w in warm).
Senses: glosses: A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous), having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of the family Ursidae.
examples: text: We had barbecued bear for dinner.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous), having shaggy fur, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of the family Ursidae.
The meat of this animal.
examples: text: One evening about this time, when his Lordship did me the honour to sup at my lodgings with Dr. Robertson and several other men of literary distinction, he regretted that Johnson had not been educated with more refinement, and lived more in polished society. 'No, no, my Lord, (said Signor Baretti,) do with him what you would, he would always have been a bear.'
ref: 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson:
glosses: A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person.
examples: text: This accompt has been made to appear a bull accompt, i.e. that the bulls cannot take their stock. The fact is the reverse; it is a bear accompt, but the bears, unable to deliver their stock, have conjointly banged the market, and pocketed the tickets, to defeat the rise and loss that would have ensued to them by their buying on a rising price on the accompt day […]
ref: 1821, Bank of England, The Bank - The Stock Exchange - The Bankers ..., page 64:
topics: business
finance
antonyms: bull
glosses: An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices.
examples: text: By the time we got into Tulsa Town
We had eighty-five trucks in all
But there's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf
And them bears was wall-to-wall.
Yeah, them smokies is thick as bugs on a bumper
They even had a bear in the air.
I says, "Callin' all trucks, this here's the Duck.
We about to go a-huntin' bear."
ref: 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:
text: 'The bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,' reported someone else.
ref: 1976 June, CB Magazine, Oklahoma City: Communications Publication Corporation, June 40/3:
text: He was listening for reports of Kojaks with Kodaks, or bear sightings (cop alerts) at his front door (ahead of him), especially plain wrappers (unmarked police cars) parked at specific yardsticks (mile-markers) taking pictures […]
ref: 2015, Matt Cashion, Last Words of the Holy Ghost, page 85:
qualifier: CB radio
glosses: A state policeman (short for Smokey Bear).
examples: text: Bears are usually hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats.
ref: [1979 July 26, George Mazzei, “Who's Who in the Zoo?: A Glossary of Gay Animals”, in Robert I. McQueen, editor, The Advocate, number 272, Liberation Publications, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Apr 2014, page 42:
text: Bear sought by masculine white male, 30, 5'8", 165 lbs, for weekly safe encounter. I'm in a long-term relationship and seek outside fun. You: tall, masculine, over 200 lbs, discreet, moustache.
ref: 1990 December 9, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 12:
text: 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.
ref: 2004 April 27, Richard Goldstein, “Why I'm Not a Bear”, in The Advocate, number 913, page 72:
text: 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.
ref: 2006, Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, Human sexuality:
topics: LGBT
antonyms: twink
glosses: A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual.
examples: text: Bunyip Bluegum was a tidy bear, he objected to whisker soup[.]
ref: 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 8:
glosses: A koala (bear).
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A portable punching machine.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.
topics: cartomancy
human-sciences
mysticism
philosophy
sciences
glosses: The fifteenth Lenormand card.
examples: text: That window can be a bear to open.
text: "This was a real bear to refinish. You can't believe how hard it was right here to get a thousand years of crud out of this carving."
ref: 2014, Joe Buda, Pilgrims' Passage: Into a New Millennium; Rebuilding the Past:
glosses: Something difficult or tiresome; a burden or chore.
Synonyms: sense: large omnivorous mammal
word: bruin
sense: large omnivorous mammal
word: ursid
sense: rough, uncouth person
word: troublemaker
sense: police officer
word: police officer
word: bear
Hypernyms: word: carnivore
word: mammal
word: vertebrate
word: animal
word: creature
Hyponyms: word: black bear
word: brown bear
word: grizzly bear
word: kermode
word: kermode bear
word: Kodiak bear
word: lip bear
word: panda
word: panda bear
word: polar bear
word: sloth bear
word: sun bear
Coordinate terms: sense: large, hairy gay man
word: otter
sense: large, hairy gay man
word: twink
sense: large, hairy gay man
word: twunk
Derived terms: American black bear
ant bear
ant-bear
antibear
Arctic bear
arctic bear
Asian black bear
Atlas bear
Australian bear
Auvergne bear
average bear
bearbait
bear bait
bear-bait
bearbaiter
bear-baiting
bear baiting
bearbaiting
bear banger
bearberry
bear board
bear cage
bear cat
bearcat
bear claw
bear crawl
Bear Creek
bear cub
bear date
beardog
beardom
bearess
bear garden
bear garlic
beargrass
bear grass
Bearhead
bearheaded
bearherd
bearhound
bear hug
bearie
bear in the air
bearish
Bear Island
Bear Lake
bearleader
bear leader
bear-leader
bearless
bearlet
bearlike
bearling
bearly
bear market
bear meat
bearmode
bearness
bear otter
bear paw
bear-paw poppy
bear pit
bear poppy
bearproof
bear raid
Bear River
bear's breech
bearship
bearshit
bear sign
bearskin
bear's-paw
Bearspaw
bear spear
bear spider
bear spray
bear spread
bear tamer
bear the bell
beartrap
bear trap
bear-trap dam
bear walker
bear-ward
bearward
bear-whelp
beary
Big Bear City
Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Valley
black bear
brown bear
bug-bear
carebear
care bear
cat bear
cave bear
cinnamon bear
dancing bear
Deninger's bear
does a bear crap in the woods
does a bear poop in the woods
does a bear shit in the woods
does the bear shit in the woods
dog-bear
don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear
drop bear
drop-bear
Etruscan bear
Gobi bear
Great Bear
Great Bear Lake
grizzly bear
grolar bear
gummi bear
gummy bear
he-bear
Himalayan brown bear
Himalayan red bear
honey bear
ice bear
is a bear Catholic
is the bear Catholic
isabelline bear
Japanese bear
Japanese black bear
Jer-bear
Kermode bear
Kiwi bear
koala bear
kodiak bear
Kodiak bear
labiated bear
lava bear
like a bear with a sore head
lip bear
Little Bear
loaded for bear
Louisiana black bear
mad as a bear with a sore head
Malayan bear
Malay bear
mama bear
mama-bear
mamma bear
micro-bear
microbear
mini-bear
minibear
momma bear
moon bear
mottled bear
mumma bear
native bear
off-bear
owlbear
panda bear
papa bear
papa-bear
particoloured bear
pedobear
permabear
pizzly bear
poke the bear
polar bear
polar bear dip
polar bear plunge
polar bear swim
pookie bear
problem bear
Russian bear
Russian Bear
sand bear
sea bear
she-bear
short-faced bear
sloth bear
smokey bear
snow bear
snowbear
sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you
space bear
spectacled bear
spirit bear
spokesbear
sugar bear
sun bear
superbear
Syrian bear
Syrian brown bear
teddie bear
teddy bear
tree bear
Walking Bear
water bear
weight bear
weight-bear
werebear
white bear
white bear problem
woolly-bear
woolly bear caterpillar
wooly bear
woolly bear