wear
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wâr
ipa: /wɛə/
ipa: /wɛː/
ipa: /wɛ(ə)ɹ/
ipa: [wɛɚ]
ipa: [wɛɹ]
ipa: /weː/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /weə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
enpr: wîr
ipa: /wiə/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /weɹ/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
enpr: wûr
ipa: /wɜː(ɹ)/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
note: Indic, cheer–chair merger or spelling pronunciation
enpr: wîr
ipa: /wɪja(r)/
note: Indic, cheer–chair merger or spelling pronunciation
homophone: ware
homophone: where (wine–whine merger)
homophone: weir
homophone: we're (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: were
homophone: whir (fair–fur merger)
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Forms: form: wears
form: wearing
form: wore
form: ware
form: worn
form: wore
form: worne
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”).
Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते (váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸- (waš-).
Originally a weak verb (i.e. with a past tense in -ed), it became irregular during the Middle English period by analogy with verbs like beren (whence bear) and teren (whence tear).
Senses: examples: text: He's wearing some nice pants today.
text: She wore her medals with pride.
text: Please wear your seatbelt.
text: Can you wear makeup and sunscreen at the same time?
text: He was wearing his lunch after tripping and falling into the buffet.
text: He ware upon his head a diademe of purple interpaled with white, like as Darius was accustomed.
ref: 1553, John Brende, Historie of Quintus Curcius:
text: Over all this, hee ware a certeyne Mantell of like ſtuffe, made in ſuche maner, that coming vnder his righte arme, and covering moſte ꝑte [parte] of that ſyde, yt tuched not the lefte ſyde, […]
ref: Albert Feuillerat, editor (1926), “The First Book”, in The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia: Being the Original Version […] (Cambridge English Classics; The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; IV), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, pages 23–24
english: The Old Arcadia
translation: The Old Arcadia
text: And Countrimen my louing follovvers, / Plead my ſucceſſiue Title vvith your ſvvords: / I am his firſt borne ſonne, that vvas the laſt / That vvare the Imperiall Diademe of Rome, / Then let my Fathers honours liue in me, / Nor vvrong mine age vvith this indignitie, […]
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature A3, recto:
text: It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
ref: 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
text: ‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: To have on:
To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc.
examples: text: He wears eyeglasses.
text: She wears her hair in braids.
text: It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To have on:
To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.
examples: text: She wore a smile all day.
text: He walked out of the courtroom wearing an air of satisfaction.
text: Then the bridegroom came slowly up the walk, wearing a very unbridegroomlike aspect, […]
ref: 1870, Marion Harland, Helen Gardner's Wedding-day, page 139:
glosses: To have on:
To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.
examples: text: You're going to wear a hole in the bottom of those shoes.
text: The water has slowly worn a channel into these rocks.
text: Long illness had worn the bloom from her cheeks.
text: Exile had worn the man to a shadow.
text: And They made the Moon, with his face wrinkled with many mountains and worn with a thousand valleys, to regard with pale eyes the games of the small gods, and to watch throughout the resting time of Māna-Yood-Sushāī; to watch, to regard all things, and be silent.
ref: 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To erode:
To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.
examples: text: The tiles were wearing thin due to years of children's feet.
text: His stock of money[…] began to wear very low.
ref: 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
text: The family that had raised it wore out in the earlier part of this century
ref: 1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], Endymion […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:
glosses: To erode:
To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.
examples: text: His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience.
text: Toil and care soon wear the spirit.
text: Our physical advantage allowed us to wear the other team out and win.
text: Our ſoules, whoſe faculties can comprehend
The wondrous Architecture of the world:
And meaſure euery wandring planets courſe,
Still climing after knowledge infinite,
And alwaies mouing as the reſtles ſpheares,
Wils vs to weare our ſelues & neuer reſt, […]
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
glosses: To erode:
To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.
examples: text: Her high pitched voice is really wearing on me lately.
glosses: To erode:
(in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.
examples: text: I know you don't like working with him, but you'll just have to wear it.
glosses: To endure:
To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.
raw_tags: with "it"
examples: text: Don't worry, this fabric will wear. These pants will last you for years.
text: This color wears so well. I must have washed this sweater a thousand times.
text: I have to say, our friendship has worn pretty well.
text: It's hard to get to know him, but he wears well.
glosses: To endure:
To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.
examples: text: wear on, wear away.
text: As the years wore on, we seemed to have less and less in common.
text: Away, I say; time wears.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: Thus wore out night.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
text: That loss is common would not make
⁠My own less bitter, rather more:
⁠Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto VI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To endure:
To pass slowly, gradually or tediously.
raw_tags: of time
topics: nautical
transport
synonyms: gybe
glosses: To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.
Derived terms: does the Pope wear a funny hat
forwear
not all heroes wear capes
outwear
outworn
overwear
ready-to-wear
rewear
unwearable
wash-and-wear
wearable
wear and tear
wear as a badge of honor
wear away
wear down
wearer
wear horns
wear in
wear off
wear on
wear one's heart upon one's sleeve
wear on one's sleeve
wear out one's welcome
wear out
worn out
worn-out
wear rose-colored glasses
wear sackcloth and ashes
wear something as a badge of honor
wear something on one's sleeve
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
wear the breeches
wear the pants
wear the trousers
wear thin
wear through
wear too many hats
wear two hats
wear up
wear weary
wear yellow stockings
worse for wear
Related terms: vest
don
put on