▪ I. borne, ppl. a.
(bɔən)
Forms: see bear v.
1. a. Carried, sustained, endured, etc. Used attrib. chiefly in such constructions as ‘patiently borne injuries’, ‘the breeze-borne note’.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 42 The shard-borne Beetle. |
b. light borne, easily guided, not hard-mouthed; said of horses. water borne, see quot.
| 1611 Cotgr., Alegerir vn cheval à la main, to..cause a horse to be light borne. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 45 Water borne is when there is no more water than will iust beare her from the ground. |
2. a. Comb., with adverbs, as borne-down, borne-in, etc. See bear down, bear in, etc. under bear v.
| 1600 Chapman Iliad xv. 354 In such a borne-up kind The Trojans overgat the Wall. 1637 Rutherford Lett. clxx. (1862) I. 399 Intimated and borne-in assurance of His love. 1679 King in Spirit of Popery 23 The born-down and Ruined Interest of our Lord and Master. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 10 Blushing ‘Good Night’, rosy as a borne-off bride's. |
b. With prefixed n., as air-borne, carrier-borne, chair-borne, glider-borne: see the ns. (See 1944 Amer. Speech XIX. 222 f.)
▪ II. borne
obs. f. bourn; var. berne, Obs., man.