ˈbearance
(ˈbɛərəns)
[f. bear v. + (Romanic suffix) -ance. Cf. abearance, forbearance.]
1. Endurance, patient suffering. arch.
| 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. 577 Their minds are inured to temperance and bearance. 1877 R. D. Blackmore Erema I. xvi. 190 ‘You are not what I thought of you,’ I cried, being vexed beyond bearance by such words. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo vi. 133 He was glum, silent, tortured by them all a bit beyond bearance. |
2. A bearing (in mechanism).
| 1834 Galloway Hist. Steam Eng. 214 Two circular pieces or valves k, one of brass and the other of iron, are placed on the bearance. 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 49 The part of a..coal-tub frame to which the bearances for the wheels are attached. |