▪ I. bearing, vbl. n.
(ˈbɛərɪŋ)
[f. bear v.1 + -ing1.]
I. from bear v.1 I.
1. a. The action of carrying or conveying. In Backgammon, see bear v. 1 d.
| c 1384 Wyclif De Eccl. Sel. Wks. III. 347 In þe olde lawe weren preestis and dekenes myche chargid in beryng of þe tabernacle. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 645 In a beryng baskett or a lepe..I shall me conuay [over wall]. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres Pref. 3 Your yong yeares haue scarse arriued yet to the bearing of Armes. 1645 J. Dury Israel's Call 27 To serve him in the bearing of his vessels. 1675 Cotton Compl. Gamester xxvi. (1680) 111 When you come to bearing, have a care of making when you need not. |
b. things immaterial, e.g. the bringing forward of testimony.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 360 Brawelynge and bacbytynge and beryng of false wittnesse. Mod. ‘The continual bearing of a grudge.’ |
2. a. The carrying of oneself (with reference to the manner); carriage, deportment; behaviour, demeanour.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2178 Bi ȝure bering men mai it sen. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 181 Symple of beryng [v.r. attire] and deboner of chere. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, ix. §2 To be of goode beryng ayenst the King. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 166 That is Claudio, I know him by his bearing. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iv. xxii, The bearing of that stranger Lord. 1873 Black Pr. Thule vi. 79 The..courtesy of his bearing towards women. |
b. Behaviour in battle, etc., achievement.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 3 Greet berynge and dedes of oure forme fadres. |
3. Her. That which is borne upon an escutcheon; a single charge or device.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 120 b, And vpon the valence of that studie, were Scocheons of vnperfite bearing. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. Pref., When the Prince ennobled any, he vsually gaue him the particular of his Bearing in Blazon. 1790 Boswell Johnson II. 35 Armorial Bearings..Johnson said..were as ancient as the siege of Thebes. 1858 Buckle Civilis. (1869) II. ii. 112 In the twelfth century armorial bearings were invented. |
II. from bear v.1 II.
† 4. Upholding, supporting; maintenance. Obs.
| 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 600 Indicted of riottes and maintenaunce of bearynges of divers misdoers within the countie. 1552 Latimer Serm. Lord's Pr. iii. II. 34 In the place of justice, there I have seen bearing and bolstering. |
5. Sustaining, supporting, endurance.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 45 In suffrynge or beryng aduersitees and troubles. 1640 Sanderson Serm. II. 174 Our bearing with their infirmities. 1815 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 263 Considering the government of England as totally without morality, and insolent beyond bearing. |
6. A material support; a supporting surface; supporting power.
| a 1300 K. Alis. 484 A goshauk with gret flyght Setlith on his beryng. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 148 This Post..bears upon the Floor, to make its Bearing the stronger. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 29 But of this frame the bearings, and the ties. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §274 Each floor..lying upon the horizontal bearings furnished by these ledges. 1876 Handbk. Sc. App. S. Kens. 5 A greater number of bearings is required to prevent the mirror from becoming strained by its own weight. |
7. Carpentry. The length of a beam between two supports, span; the distance between the cutting-edge of a tool and the rest in which it is held.
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 136 This short Bearing..renders the whole Floor firm enough for all common Occupation. Ibid. 186 Its edge cutting at a greater Bearing from the Rest..it is then more subject to tremble. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 219 Bearing, the distance in which a beam or rafter is suspended in the clear. |
III. from bear v.1 III.
8. A thrusting, pressing, or straining in any direction; thrust, pressure.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Salidizo..the bearing out of a wall, Proiecta. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Bearing of an arch, or vault, denotes the efforts which the stones make to burst open the piers. 1784 Med. Commun. II. 7 Such a bearing down, as made her fearful of a miscarriage. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 415 An inversion of the vagina is attended with a sense of bearing down. |
9. Tendency to exert influence, practical relation or reference to other things; aspect.
| 1785 Burke Nab. Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 201 Having had..a just sense of their true bearings and relations. 1804 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 18 In its unfortunate bearings on my private friendships. 1828 Southey Ess. (1832) II. 243 The subject..was thoroughly examined in all its bearings. 1867 A. Barry Sir C. Barry vi. 177 The legal bearings of the case. |
† 10. A taking effect; operation, effective result.
| 1723 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 89 Whether I shall ever be able to bring anything of this to a bearing, I know not. |
† 11. Spring, elasticity. Obs. Cf. bear n.3
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 118 Slower motions are made up of starts and bearings, or springsomness. Ibid. 119 A pend or earnest strift fromwards, which we call springsomness or bearing. |
12. Mech. (generally in pl.) Those parts of a machine which bear the friction; the block or supports on which a shaft or axle turns, and also the part of the shaft or axle resting upon these supports. [This combines II and III of the vb.]
| 1791 Specif. Patent No. 1794 Water wheels to be made and fixed upon bearings. 1793 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 137 A better bearing, and much less likely to wear the pivots. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 139 The shafts and axles were of iron, and the bearings of brass. 1881 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxxi. 38 Heated bearings in machinery may be relieved..by the use of graphite as a lubricator. |
13. a. The direction in which any point lies from a point of reference, esp. as measured in degrees from one of the quarters of the compass; also, the direction of an arriving radio wave or radar echo determined by a direction-finding system. In pl. the relative positions of surrounding objects. to take one's bearings: to determine one's position with regard to surrounding objects; also fig.
| 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. vii. 171 Great errours not only in the situation of diuers places, but also in the bearing of places one to the other. 1711 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. 29 When they [jockeys] design to take the Bearings of a Running Horse. 1750 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. 5 July, To make the compass useful in taking..the bearing of head⁓lands, ships and other objects. 1805 Flinders in Phil. Trans. XCV. 189 On the first bearings the ship's head was six points on one side of the meridian. 1858 in Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 229 All Bearings herein given are Magnetic. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. i. (ed. 2) 41 The difference between the sun's true bearing and its compass bearing. 1907 Electr. Engin. II. 775/2 The bearings of quite a number of wireless telegraph stations in the Channel have been determined. 1920 Discovery May 131/2 By means of the direction-finding apparatus a bearing to the source from which the wireless waves are coming may be obtained. 1942 Electronic Engin. XV. 9 Long wave pulse transmitter..to enable bearings on the aircraft to be obtained on the ground. 1950 Gloss. Terms Radar (B.S.I.) 7 Automatic range, bearing.., the automatic determination of range, bearing..by a mechanism actuated by the echo. 1952 F. J. Wylie Use of Radar at Sea viii. 121 Taking a radar bearing of the side of a prominent land feature. |
b. Mus. (see quot.)
| 1835 Penny Cycl. XXV. 356/2 The parts [of a piano, etc.] which are first tuned by the fifths, and from which all the others are tuned by octaves, are called bearings. |
14. a. The direction of any line on the earth's surface in relation to a meridian.
| 1802 Playfair Illustr. Hutton. The. 229 Vertical strata, having the same bearing with respect to the meridian. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bearing..the direction of a horizontal line, drawn in the middle plane of a vein or stratum not horizontal. |
b. fig. Tendency, natural leaning, bent.
| 1862 Trollope Orley F. xv. 121 In the publicity of such sympathy there was something that suited the bearings of Miss Furnival's mind. |
c. line of bearing: the direction in which a thing lies or moves.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 967 When the line of dip, and consequently the line of bearing which is at right angles to it, are unknown, they are sought for by making three bores. 1920 Discovery Nov. 330/1 Collingwood signalled to some of his ships to spread out.., the result being a partial resemblance to what is called a line of bearing. |
† 15. Mus. The variation allowed from the true pitch of a note, in tuning an instrument upon the method of unequal temperament. Obs.
| 1698 Wallis in Phil. Trans. XX. 256 Pipes at equal Intervals do not give the just desired Harmony, without somewhat of Bearing. |
16. Naut. ‘The widest part of a vessel below the plank-shear. The line of flotation which is formed by the water upon her sides when she sits upright with her provisions, stores, and ballast, on board in proper trim.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 3 There doth begin the compasse and bearing of the ship. 1835 Marryat Pirate iii, The wind howled, and..the vessel was pressed down to her bearings by its force. |
17. Comb. and attrib. in prec. senses: as, bearing-chair, bearing-point, bearing shaft, bearing-surface; † bearing-back, a pedlar's staff for carrying his pack; † bearing-cloth, a child's christening-robe; bearing-door, (Coal-mining), one of the main doors in a pit for regulating the ventilation; † bearing-gear, the gear or apparatus (usually a twisted withe passed through the collar so as to form a loop) by which, in old times, a pair of horses supported the ends of the swingle-tree of a plough, or of the cross-bar from which the pole of a wagon was suspended; † bearing-leap, a carrying-basket; see bear-leap; bearing metal, metal having antifrictional properties, used for bearings (sense 12); bearing pile (see pile n.1 3 b).
| 1544 R. Ascham Toxoph. (1654) 115 They be good ynough for bearynge gere. 1570 Bury Wills (1850) 156, I beqwethe to my dawghter Jone Kenam one berynge sheet. 1598 Greenwey Tacitus' Ann. xiv. ii. (1622) 200 Agrippina..caused her-selfe to be carried to Baias in a bearing-chaire. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 341 If a child be lapped in a mantle or bearing-cloth made of an asse skin, it shall not be affrighted at any thing. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 437 A bearing back or colt staffe, as we say in English, whereupon poor men carry their burdens. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 119 Looke thee, a bearing-cloath for a Squires childe. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 533 When they [horses] draw two and two together in the beare-geares..then there is needfull the plow clevise..the harnesse, the collars, the round withs or bearing geares. 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 24 A bearing or main door, is a door which forces the air through an entire district. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. xxix. 402 Passed the chain cable under the keel at four bearing-points. 1893 T. E. Thorpe Dict. Appl. Chem. III. 1052/1 Part of the tin in gun metal and in bearing metal is frequently replaced by zinc. 1905 Engineering Mag. XXIX. 592/1 A paper was presented by Professor Melvin Price, upon the microstructure and frictional characteristics in bearing metals. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 23 Aug. 10/1 The foundations of each pier are formed by 145 bearing-piles. 1923 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics V. ii. 233/1 The antimony-tin alloys are rarely used by themselves, but form the basis of bearing metals. |
IV. from bear v.1 IV.
18. a. The action of bringing forth (offspring); birth. Also in comb. child-bearing.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11079 All mad þai mirth at his bering. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 908 As wemen..When thei ben in berung of chylde. 1611 Bible 1 Tim. ii. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saued in child-bearing. |
b. attrib., as in bearing-pain, bearing-place, bearing-throe, bearing-time.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xxi. 323 Wouldst thou haue Children? It is hee that openeth and shutteth the bearing place. 1597 Daniel Civ. Wares vi. cv, To stay beyond the bearing-time, so long. 1787 Med. Commun. II. 227 The throes which the women call bearing pains. |
19. The action of producing leaves, flowers, and esp. fruit; yielding, production.
| 1583 Plat Jewell ho. (1594) 5 He did greatly backward the tree in his bearing. 1709 Stanhope Paraphr. IV. 255 Bearing will be required from every Branch. 1861 Delamer Kitch. Gard. 160 Wall-trees..come into early bearing. |
20. That which is produced; fruit, a crop.
| 1838 Wordsw. Sonn. ii. xix, Rich mellow bearings, that for thanks shall call. |
21. Those external parts of animals which are concerned in parturition. Obs. or dial.
| 1674 Lond. Gaz. No. 911/4 A Bright bay Mare..lately Stackt behind under her Bearing. 1779 Phil. Trans. LXIX. 285 The teats and the external female parts, called by farmers the bearing. |
▪ II. bearing, ppl. a.1
(ˈbɛərɪŋ)
[f. bear v.1]
1. That bears, carries, supports, endures, drives, presses, pierces, stands out, etc. (See various meanings of the vb.)
| c 1500 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. xii. 131 Clifton with a bearing arrow, Hee clave the willow wand. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 158 Drawing and bearinge beastes. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (1869) 61 Large and bearing streames. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 122 Lockt up in a bearing or pressing posture. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 69 Plane both the Bearing sides thinner. 1702 Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 162 Be as bearing as you can with hasty and fretful tempers. 1850 J. Leitch tr. Müller's Anc. Art § 275. 305 The architectural members..are divided into bearing, borne, and intermediate. Among the bearing the column is the form naturally suggested. |
† 2. Of food: Sustaining, substantial. Obs.
| c 1618 Fletcher Wom. Pleased i. ii, A good bearing dinner. 1633 Massinger New Way, etc. v. i, Bearing dishes. |
3. In comb., as: burden-bearing, interest-bearing; bearing-rein, a short fixed rein which passes from the bit to the saddle, intended to keep the horse's head up and its neck arched; fig. a check or restraint upon movements.
| 1620 Quarles Jonah (1638) 43 The burden-bearing Camell. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 138 The bearing rein is what prevents the horse from holding his head down. 1839 Syd. Smith Wks. 1859 I. Pref. 8 Lord Grey had not then taken off the bearing-rein from the English people. 1866 Crump Banking xi. 245 Having an interest-bearing reserve. 1882 Macm. Mag. XLV. 464 When horses are unnecessarily restrained by bearing-reins. |
4. Bringing forth, producing (offspring, fruit, etc.). Often as second element in a compound, as berry-bearing, fruit-bearing, spectre-bearing.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxvii. (1495) 682 Thycke settyng of knottes is token of a good vyne and berynge. 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. (1691) 53 A Cow continues Milch and bearing, from 3 or 4 years old to 12. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. vi, The Future is wholly a Stygian Darkness, spectre-bearing. 1858 W. Ellis Vis. Madagascar viii. 225 The fruit-bearing olive. |
5. Fertile, productive. Also of years, etc.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 28 Eke se thi lande Be bering, and commodiously stande. 1742 Ellis Timber-Tree (ed. 3) II. xxi. 130 The second [kind of cherry]..may be enjoyed at so cheap a Rate, in a bearing Year, as a Penny a Pound. 1860 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. X. 614 Of fruits, although it was not a ‘bearing year’, the exhibition was very fine. 1882 S. Macadam Manitoba Soil, Soils of a good bearing quality. |
▪ III. ˈbearing, ppl. a.2
[f. bear v.2 + -ing2.]
Acting as a ‘bear’ in Stock Exchange transactions.
| 1884 Pall Mall G. 7 Aug. 5/1 The shrewd men who are so..anxious to put money in the pockets of the bulling or bearing public. |