* (UK) IPA(key): /bɛə(ɹ)/, /bɛː(ɹ)/, enPR: bâr * (US) IPA(key): /bɛɚ/, enPR: bâr * Homophone: bare * (Southern US, colloquial) IPA(key): /bɑːɹ/ * Homophone: bar (Southern US, colloquial)

From Middle English _bere_, from Old English _bera_, from Proto-Germanic _*berô_ (compare West Frisian _bear_, Dutch _beer_, German _Bär_, Danish _bjørn_). NOUN BEAR (_plural_ BEARS) * A large omnivorous mammal, related to the dog and raccoon, having shaggy hair, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of family Ursidae, particularly of subfamily Ursinae. * (figuratively) A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person. [1579] * (finance) An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices. [1744] * (slang, US) A state policeman (short for smokey bear). [1970s] * 1976 June, _CB Magazine_, Communications Publication Corporation, Oklahoma City, June 40/3: ‘The bear's pulling somebody off there at 74,’ reported someone else. * (slang) A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual. [1990] * 1990, "Bears, gay men subculture materials" (publication title, Human Sexuality Collection, Collection Level Periodical Record): * 2004, Richard Goldstein, _Why I'm Not a Bear_, in _The Advocate_, number 913, 27 April 2004, page 72: I have everything it takes to be a BEAR: broad shoulders, full beard, semibald pate, and lots of body hair. But I don't want to be a fetish. * 2006, Simon LeVay, Sharon McBride Valente, _Human sexuality_: There are numerous social organizations for BEARS in most parts of the United States. Lesbians don't have such prominent sexual subcultures as gay men, although, as just mentioned, some lesbians are into BDSM practices. * (engineering) A portable punching machine. * (nautical) A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck. SYNONYMS * (large omnivorous mammal): see Wikisaurus:bear * (rough, uncouth person): see Wikisaurus:troublemaker * (police officer): see Wikisaurus:police officer ANTONYMS * (investor who anticipates falling prices): bull DERIVED TERMS TRANSLATIONS VERB BEAR (_third-person singular simple present_ BEARS, _present participle_ BEARING, _simple past and past participle_ BEARED) * (finance, transitive) To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in. _to BEAR a railroad stock_ _to BEAR the market_ ADJECTIVE BEAR (_not comparable_) * (finance, investments) Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall. _The great BEAR market starting in 1929 scared a whole generation of investors._ TRANSLATIONS SEE ALSO * ursine * Appendix: Animals * Appendix:English collective nouns

* Donald A. Ringe, _From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic_ (2006), _Linguistic history of English, vol. 1_, Oxford: Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-955229-0)

From Middle English _beren_ (“carry, bring forth”), from Old English _beran_ (“to carry, bear, bring”), from Proto-Germanic _*beraną_, from Proto-Indo-European _*bʰer-_, _*bʰére-_. Akin to Old High German _beran_ (“carry”), Dutch _baren_, Gothic

* Aber * bare, Baré

From Proto-Germanic _*berô_ (compare English _bear_, Dutch _beer_, German _Bär_, Danish _bjørn_).

BEAR c (_plural_ BEAREN) * bear