bear*/

[beə] (past tense bore [bɔː] ; past participle borne [bɔːn] ) verb [T] I

1) if you cannot bear someone or something, you do not like them at all or cannot accept them

Most of her friends can't bear her husband.[/ex]

She couldn't bear the thought of moving again.[/ex]

Sue can't bear to be parted from her baby daughter.[/ex]

2) to accept a difficult or unpleasant situation, especially without complaining

She bore all her suffering with incredible patience.[/ex]

The pain was more than I could bear.[/ex]

3) to seem to be a particular kind of thing or to have particular qualities

His description bore no relation to reality.[/ex]

4) formal

if something bears writing or a design, it has writing or a design on it

a blue banner bearing the words ‘Civil Rights March'[/ex]

5) to support the weight of something

The old floorboards could not bear the weight of the grand piano.[/ex]

6) to have a bad feeling towards someone

I hope you don't still bear a grudge against me (= continue to be angry about something I did in the past).[/ex]

7) formal

to give birth to a child

•

bear fruit — to have a successful result[/ex]

Our policies must be given time to bear fruit.[/ex]

bear fruit — if a plan or effort bears fruit, it is eventually successful[/ex]

bear sth in mind — to remember to think about something when you are involved in doing something else[/ex]

+(that) When you speak to Lee, bear in mind he's still upset about what happened.[/ex]

bear left/right — to turn left/right[/ex]

bear the responsibility/blame — to be responsible for something[/ex]

The Chancellor and his supporters bear the responsibility for starting this row.[/ex]

bear witness — formal to show signs that prove that something happened or was true[/ex]

- bear down on sb/sth

- bear sb/sth out

- bear up

- bear with sb

II

noun [C]

bear [beə]

1) a large wild animal with thick fur

2) business

someone who expects the price of company SHARES to fall, so they sell them

See:

bull 2)