Sentence:  So choosing a good tree , he clambered up into it , found a comfortable notch , and curled up in it to sleep , like the tousled bear he <WSD>was</WSD> , with his hands across his chest , as though surfeited with honey . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)