bearing
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: architecture
engineering
government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
mechanical
mechanical-engineering
monarchy
natural-sciences
nautical
nobility
physical-sciences
politics
transport
Etymology: From Middle English beringe, berynge, berende, berande, berand, from Old English berende (“bearing; fruitful”) (also as synonym Old English bǣrende), from Proto-Germanic *berandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to bear; carry”), equivalent to bear + -ing.
Base: bear
Affixes: -ing
Inflected forms:
form: bearings
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: That bears (some specified thing).
pos: adj
tags: in-compounds
not-comparable
examples: a gift-bearing visitor
gloss: Of a beam, column, or other device, carrying weight or load.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: That's a bearing wall.
gloss: A mechanical device that supports another part or reduces friction.
pos: noun
gloss: The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north; a heading or direction.
pos: noun
examples: This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; [...]
gloss: One's understanding of one's orientation or relative position, literally or figuratively.
pos: noun
tags: especially
in-plural
examples: Do we go left here or straight on? Hold on, let me just get my bearings.
I started a new job last week, and I still haven't quite found my bearings.
gloss: Relevance; a relationship or connection.
pos: noun
examples: That has no bearing on this issue.
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, / The strong connections, nice dependencies.
gloss: One's posture, demeanor, or manner.
pos: noun
examples: She walks with a confident, self-assured bearing.
I know him by his bearing.
The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.
gloss: That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.
pos: noun
examples: A lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.
gloss: The portion of a support on which anything rests.
pos: noun
gloss: The unsupported span.
pos: noun
tags: proscribed
examples: The beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
gloss: Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms.
pos: noun
examples: Holonyms: shield, escutcheon
[…]when the French seized Malta they were by no means so delicate. They effaced armorial bearings with their usual hot-headed eagerness; and a few years after they had torn down the coats of arms of the gentry, the heroes of Malta and Egypt were busy devising heraldry for themselves, and were wild to be barons and counts of the empire.
Related words: ABEC
Derived words: apple-bearing
armsbearing
casebearing
child-bearing
childbearing
coal-bearing
cupbearing
death-bearing
everbearing
flower-bearing
fruit-bearing
furbearing
fur-bearing trout
gold-bearing
horn-bearing
interest-bearing
leafbearing
life-bearing
light-bearing
livebearing
load-bearing
metalbearing
nonbearing
omnibearing
pallbearing
relative bearing grease
rushbearing
seedbearing
sporebearing
swordbearing
thought-bearing
tone-bearing unit
torchbearing
unbearing
wonder-bearing
plain bearing
air bearing
armorial bearing
back bearing
bearingless
bearinglike
bearing rein
cutlass bearing
find one's bearings
get one's bearings
jewel bearing
journal bearing
lose one's bearings
muffler bearing
neck bearing
needle bearing
radial bearing
sidebearing
talebearing
Translations: