bearer
(ˈbɛərə(r))
Forms; 4 berere, 4–6 -er, 5 -are, -our, berrer, 5–6 berar, 6 bearor, 6– bearer.
[f. bear v.1 + -er1.]
I. He who or that which carries or brings.
1. One who carries or conveys; a carrier, a porter. a. generally.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xlvi. 2 Oure chargis with heuy berthene..to-brosyd ben..thei myȝten not sauen the berere. 1483 Cath. Angl. 29 A berer, baiulus. 1547 Act 1 Edw. VI, iii. §9 The..nurse, or other the bearer about of the childe. 1611 Bible 2 Chron. ii. 18 To be bearers of burdens. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. iv. 131 To crowd about the sedan..to make the bearers stop. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 239 Fleeces..In their own bearer's blood were dyed. 1870 Nicholson Zool. (1880) 235 The scolex [a tapeworm] apparently leads an independent life in water, and its intermediary bearer (supposed by some to be a fish..) is at present unknown. |
b. of a non-material burden.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. x. 94 He wes chosyn þare Of þis charge to be berare. 1483 Cath. Angl. 29 A berer of wytnes, testis. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 67 b, Lucifer, that is to say, the lyght berer. |
c. One who helps to carry a corpse to the grave, or who holds the pall in a funeral procession.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Elisa ii. xli, Six mournfull bearers, the sad hearse attending. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 291 A burial..not one..bearer being dressed in black. 1859 E. Capern Ball. & Songs 179 The tramp of the bearers and horses Beats out the death-march on the air. |
d. In India: (a) A palanquin carrier; (b) A domestic servant who has charge of his master's clothes, furniture, and (often) his ready money. [Wilson conjectured this latter name to be a corruption of Bengali behārā; but the domestic ‘bearer’ was simply the headman of a set of palanquin bearers when the latter were universally used.]
| 1766 J. H. Grose Voy. E. Ind. I. 153 (Y.) The poles which..are carried by six, but most commonly by four bearers. 1811 Mrs. Sherwood Henry & Bearer 3 A bearer, who..had taken care of Henry from the day that he was born. Note. A servant, whose work is to carry a palanquin; but who is frequently employed to take care of children. c 1813 ― Ayah & Lady vii. 39 The bearers had nothing to do but to carry their Lady to church. 1880 G. A. Mackay 21 Days in Ind. (1882) 92 The Ayah and Bearer sit with Baby in the verandah. |
e. In comb. with various ns., as cup-bearer, palanquin-bearer, pall-bearer, shield-bearer, standard-bearer.
| c 1500 Cocke Lorelles B. 10 Tankarde berers..and spere planers. 1611 Bible Nehem. i. 11 For I was the kings cup-bearer [Coverdale, butler]. 1824 Macaulay Ivry, And should my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xxxviii, A double set of palanquin-bearers. 1862 F. Griffiths Artill. Man. (ed. 9) 40 Pall-bearers on each side of the corpse. |
f. bearer company, bearer corps, a medical division for military field service.
| 1878 (title) Stretcher-Bearers and Bearer-Companies. Manual of Exercises for, Horse Guards. 1899 Daily News 27 Nov. 5/3 More assistance will be necessary, both in skilled attention to wounded, and in carrying them from the field. This is provided for by ‘bearer companies’. 1901 Empire Rev. I. 432 The work of the bearer company is intermittent, having to collect the sick and wounded after a fight, and to bring them to the field hospital. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 352/1 The bearer company..is composed of three officers, thirteen non-commissioned officers, and forty-eight privates of the Royal Army Medical Corps, with a detachment of the Army Service Corps for transport duties. 1909 Webster, Bearer corps. |
2. One who brings a letter, a verbal message, tidings, rumours, etc.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3226 Apon his kne he did him suere Þat he suld be lel errand berer. 1462 J. Paston in Lett. 442 II. 92 The berour here of can enfourme you. 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 268 The rest of our myndis this faythfull berare will schaw you at lenth. 1695 Pepys Diary VI. 182 In behalf of this young man, the bearer. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxix. 271 An order..to give the bearer fifteen lashes. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 589 Others..trafficked in the secrets of which they were the bearers. |
3. a. The actual holder or presenter of a cheque, draft, or other order to pay money.
| 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1862/8 A Note..for Ninety nine Pounds..paid to Edward Callender or Bearer. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 12 A Promissory Note payable to Bearer, need not be endorsed. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xxix, Fill up a cheque for five hundred pounds, self or bearer. |
b. bearer security, an unregistered security the title to which is vested in its possessor and is transferred by simple delivery. So bearer bond, bearer stock, bearer warrant.
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 5 Aug. 6/3 These bearer-warrants are, we venture to imagine, part of the {pstlg}140,000 in fully-paid shares. 1906 Ibid. 12 July 9/2 All kinds of bearer securities. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 933/2 It has been found necessary to convert a part of the stocks into bearer bonds or shares. 1964 Financial Times 10 Feb. 10/7 Holders of Bearer Stock, to obtain this dividend, must deposit Coupon No. 251. |
4. Her. One who bears heraldic arms.
¶ The sense of ‘supporters,’ copied in mod. dictionaries from Johnson, (who inserted it from Bailey's folio of 1731), is apparently only a traditional dictionary error: see quot. 1885.
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry §3 x. (1660) 144. 1787 Porny Heraldry 19 note, Such [tinctures] as should be used for marks of disgrace in the Bearers. 1885 G. E. Cockayne (Norroy King of Arms) in letter: We never use the word ‘bearers’ for ‘supporters’: the ‘bearers’ of the arms of Howard are the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Carlisle, etc., themselves, not the supporters used by these noblemen. |
5. The possessor of any personal endowment or quality; the holder of rank or office; hence office-bearer, etc.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 29 O Maiestie! When thou do'st pinch thy Bearer. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 104 The beautie that is borne here in the face, The bearer knowes not. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvi, ‘That's speaking to the purpose’..said the office-bearer. |
6. That in, or by means of, which anything is carried; e.g. a bier.
| 1847 Halliwell s.v., In Kent the bier is sometimes called a bearer. 1862 F. Griffiths Artill. Man. (ed. 9) 116 Nos. 8 and 9 bring up hot shot on a bearer. 1883 Daily News 27 July 2/1 For carrying this..bearer poles of very ingenious design have been devised. |
II. He who or that which supports or sustains.
† 7. One who supports or sustains a weight, or who holds up what would fall; an upholder. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg., A susteynour and a berar up of the chirch. 1555 Bp. Ferrar in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. ii. App. xlvii, The bolsterors and bearors of the promoters. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. 333, Many have reported, that I have been a bearer of such as have maintained evil opinions. |
† 8. One who sustains or joins in sustaining a charge or responsibility. Obs.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 89 The richest and ablest men in everie towne are..subsidymen, and the poorer..onely bearers with them. a 1663 Sanderson Wks. (1854) I. 185 (D.) As men use to do in common payments and taxes, we plead hard to have bearers and partners that may go a share with us. a 1737 Strype Eccl. Mem. I. i. xxviii. 202 A bearer with them..in printing of their books. |
9. a. Mechanics. Anything used as a support or stay.
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 157 Bearer, a Post or Brick-wall that is Trimmed up between the two ends of a piece of Timber, to shorten its Bearing. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 219 Bearer—any thing used by way of support to another. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 183 To check the effect of the bearers or strutts of the ribs. |
b. spec. Applied to various mechanical contrivances for sustaining or taking off pressure: e.g. in Printing, to a kind of ‘packing’ used to lessen the pressure upon the types in certain places.
| 1846 Print. Appar. Amateurs 30 The introduction of ‘bearers’ which serve to reduce the pressure upon the types, or rather to bear off a part of the pressure. 1881 C. Edwards Organs 57 The bearers are strips of wood fixed between the sliders, which..support the weight of the upper boards, pipes, &c. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 32 [A] Bearer..[is] a piece of metal soldered to the ‘middle’ of a watch case as a support for the joint. |
10. dial. (See quot.)
| 1871 E. Peacock R. Skirlaugh II. 89 Where in one of the drains a sunken floor of wood, called a bearer, was deposited for..making a safe watering place for the cattle. |
III. 11. She who, or that which, brings forth or produces; spec. a fruit-yielding tree.
| 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. vii. (1483) 61, I maye wel be cleped only the Appeltree and berer of this Appel. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 76 The Tree is a great Bearer. 1872 H. Macmillan True Vine v. 190 The celebrated vine of Hampton Court is a most productive bearer. |
IV. 12. Geom. A space of any sort which is the locus of a collection of geometrical objects of any sort; e.g. a straight line is the bearer of the set of all points on it.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. |