King James Bible Dictionary

A native of the mountain regions of Western Asia, frequently mentioned in Scripture. David defended his flocks against the attacks of a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-37). Bears came out of the wood and destroyed the children who mocked the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 2:24). Their habits are referred to in Isaiah 59:11; Proverbs 28:15; Lamentations 3:10. The fury of the female bear when robbed of her young is spoken of (2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 17:12; Hosea 13:8). In Daniel's vision of the four great monarchies, the Medo-Persian empire is represented by a bear (7:5).

Ferocity of
2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 17:12; Proverbs 28:15; Isaiah 11:7; Isaiah 59:11; Lamentations 3:10; Hosea 13:8; Amos 5:19

Killed by David
1 Samuel 17:34-37

Two destroy the children of Beth-El, who mocked Elisha
2 Kings 2:24

Figurative
Daniel 7:5; Revelation 13:2

(1 Samuel 17:34; 2 Samuel 17:8) The Syrian bear, Ursus syriacus, which is without doubt the animal mentioned in the Bible, is still found on the higher mountains of Palestine. During the summer months these bears keep to the snowy parts of Lebanon, but descend in winter to the villages and Gardens. It is probable also that at this period in former days they extended their visits to other parts of Palestine.

BEAR, verb transitive preterit tense bore; participle passive born, borne. [Latin fero, pario, porto. The primary sense is to throw out, to bring forth, or in general, to thrust or drive along. ]

1. To support; to sustain; as, to bear a weight or burden.

2. To carry; to convey; to support and remove from place to place; as, 'they bear him upon the shoulder; ', 'the eagle beareth them on her wings.'

3. To wear; to bear as a mark of authority or distinction; as, to bear a sword, a badge, a name; to bear arms in a coat.

4. To keep afloat; as, the water bears a ship.

5. To support or sustain without sinking or yielding; to endure; as, a man can bear severe pain or calamity; or to sustain with proportionate strength, and without injury; as, a man may bear stronger food or drink.

6. To entertain; to carry in the mind; as, to bear a great love for a friend; to bear inveterate hatred to gaming.

7. To suffer; to undergo; as, to bear punishment.

8. To suffer without resentment, or interference to prevent; to have patience; as, to bear neglect or indignities.

9. To admit or be capable of; that is, to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change; as, to give words the most favorable interpretation they will bear

10. To bring forth or produce, as the fruit of plants, or the young of animals; as, to bear apples; to bear children.

11. To give birth to, or be the native place of.

Here dwelt the man divine whom Samos bore.

12. To possess and use as power; to exercise; as, to bear sway.

13. To gain or win.

Some think to bear it by speaking a great word. [Not now used. The phrase now used is, to bear away.]

14. To carry on, or maintain; to have; as, to bear a part in conversation.

15. To show or exhibit; to relate; as, to bear testimony or witness. This seems to imply utterance, like the Latin fero, to relate or utter.

16. To sustain the effect, or be answerable for; as, to bear the blame.

17. To sustain, as expense; to supply the means of paying; as, to bear the charges, that is, to pay the expenses.

18. To be the object of.

Let me but bear your love, and I'll bear your cares.

19. To behave; to act in any character; as, 'hath he borne himself penitent?'

20. To remove, or to endure the effects of; and hence to give satisfaction for.

He shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11. Hebrews 9:28.

To bear the infirmities of the weak, to bear one another's burdens, is to be charitable towards their faults, to sympathize with them, and to aid them in distress.

To bear off, is to restrain; to keep from approach; and in seamanship, to remove to a distance; to keep clear from rubbing against any thing; as, to bear off a blow; to bear off a boat; also, to carry away; as, to bear off stolen goods.

To bear down, is to impel or urge; to overthrow or crush by force; as, to bear down an enemy.

To bear down upon, to press to overtake; to make all sail to come up with.

To bear hard, is to press or urge.

Cesar doth bear me hard.

To bear on, is to press against; also to carry forward, to press, incite or animate.

Confidence hath borne thee on.

To bear through, is to conduct or manage; as, 'to bear through the consulship.' B.Jonson. Also, to maintain or support to the end; as, religion will bear us through the evils of life.

To bear out, is to maintain and support to the end; to defend to the last.

Company only can bear a man out in an ill thing.

To bear up, to support; to keep from falling.

Religious hope bears up the mind under sufferings.

To bear up, to keep afloat.

To bear a body. A color is said to bear a body in painting, when it is capable of being ground so fine, and mixed so entirely with the oil, as to seem only a very thick oil of the same color. To bear date, is to have the mark of time when written or executed; as, a letter or bond bears date, Jan.6, 1811.

To bear a price, is to have a certain price. In common mercantile language, it often signifies or implies, to bear a good or high price.

To bear in hand, to amuse with false pretenses; to deceive.

I believe this phrase is obsolete, or never used in America.

To bear a hand, in seamanship, is to make haste, be quick.

BEAR, verb intransitive To suffer, as with pain.

But man is born to bear

This is unusual in prose; and though admissible, is rendered intransitive, merely by the omission of pain, or other word expressive of evil.

1. To be patient; to endure.

I cannot, cannot bear

2. To produce, as fruit; to be fruitful, in opposition to barrenness.

This age to blossom, and the next to bear

Here fruit must be understood.

3. To take effect; to succeed; as, to bring matters to bear

4. To act in any character.

Instruct me how I may bear like a true friar.

5. To be situated as to the point of compass, with respect to something else; as, the land bore E,nounE. from the ship.

6. To bear away, in navigation, is to change the course of a ship, when close hauled, or sailing with a side wind, and make her run before the wind. To bear up, is used in a like sense, from the act of bearing up the helm to the windward.

Hence, perhaps, in other cases, the expression may be used to denote tending or moving from.

7. To bear down, is to drive or tend to; to approach with a fair wind; as, the fleet bore down upon the enemy.

8. To bear in, is to run or tend towards; as, a ship bears in with the land; opposed to bear off, or keeping at a greater distance.

9. To bear up, is to tend or move towards; as, to bear up to one another; also, to be supported; to have fortitude; to be firm; not to sink; as, to bear up under afflictions.

10. To bear upon, or against, is to lean

upon or against; to act on as weight or force, in any direction, as a column upon its base, or the sides of two inclining objects against each other.

11. To bear against, to approach for attack or seizure; as, 'a lion bears against his prey.'

12. To bear upon, to act upon; as, the artillery bore upon the center; or to be pointed or situated so as to affect; as, to bring or plant guns so as to bear upon a fort, or a ship.

13. To bear with, to endure what is unpleasing; to be indulgent; to forbear to resent, oppose, or punish.

Reason would I should bear with you. Acts 18:14.

Shall not God avenge his elect, though he bear long with them? Luke 18:7.

BEAR-BAITING, noun The sport of baiting bears with dogs.

(house of God's court), named only in (Hosea 10:14) as the scene of a sack and massacre by Shalman.

BEAR-BERRY, noun A plant, a species of Arbutus.

BEAR-BIND, noun A species of bind weed, or Convolvulus.

BEAR-CLOTH

BEAR-FLY, An insect.

BEAR'S FOOT,noun A plant, a species of hellebore.

The mode of wearing it was definitely prescribed to the Jews (Leviticus 19:27; 21:5). Hence the import of Ezekiel's (5:1-4) description of the "razor" i.e., the agents of an angry providence being used against the guilty nation of the Jews. It was a part of a Jew's daily toilet to anoint his beard with oil and perfume (Psalms 133:2). Beards were trimmed with the most fastidious care (2 Samuel 19:24), and their neglet was an indication of deep sorrow (Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 41:5). The custom was to shave or pluck off the hair as a sign of mourning (Isaiah 50:6; Jeremiah 48:37; Ezra 9:3). The beards of David's ambassadors were cut off by hanun (2 Samuel 10:4) as a mark of indignity.

On the other hand, the Egyptians carefully shaved the hair off their faces, and they compelled their slaves to do so also (Genesis 41:14).

Worn long by:

Aaron
Psalms 133:2

Samson
Judges 16:17

David
1 Samuel 21:13; Ezekiel 5:1

Shaven by Egyptians
Genesis 41:14

Untrimmed in mourning
2 Samuel 19:24

Plucked
Ezra 9:3

Cut
Isaiah 7:20; Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 41:5; Jeremiah 48:37

Lepers required to shave
Leviticus 13:29-33; Leviticus 14:9

Idolatrous practice of marring, forbidden
Leviticus 19:27; Leviticus 21:5

Beards of David's ambassadors half shaven by the king of the Amorites
2 Samuel 10:4

Western Asiatics have always cherished the beard as the badge of the dignity of manhood, and attached to it the importance of a feature. The Egyptians, on the contrary for the most part shaved the hair of the face and head, though we find some instances to the contrary. The beard is the object of an oath, and that on which blessing or shame is spoken of as resting. The custom was and is to shave or pluck it and the hair out in mourning, (Ezra 9:3; Isaiah 15:2; 50:6; Jeremiah 41:5; 48:37) Bar. 6.31; to neglect it in seasons of permanent affliction, (2 Samuel 19:24) and to regard any insult to it as the last outrage which enmity can inflict. (2 Samuel 10:4) The beard was the object of salutation. (2 Samuel 20:9) The dressing, trimming, anointing, etc., of the beard was performed with much ceremony by persons of wealth and rank (Psalms 133:2) The removal of the beard was a part of the ceremonial treatment proper to a leper. (Leviticus 14:9)

BEARD, noun berd. [Latin barba.]

1. The hair that grows on the chin, lips and adjacent parts of the face, chiefly of male adults; hence a mark of virility. A gray beard long beard and reverend beard are terms for old age.

2. beard is sometimes used for the face, and to do a thing to a man's beard is to do it in defiance, or to his face.

3. The awn or sharp prickles on the ears of corn. But more technically, parallel hairs or a tuft of stiff hairs terminating the leaves of plants, a species of pubescence. By some authors the name is given to the lower lip of a ringent corol.

4. A barb or sharp point of an arrow, or other instrument, bent backward from the end to prevent its being easily drawn out.

5. The beard or chuck of a horse, is that part which bears the curb of a bridle, underneath the lower mandible and above the chin.

6. The rays of a comet, emitted towards that part of the heaven to which its proper motion seems to direct it.

7. The threads or hairs of an oyster, muscle or similar shell-fish, by which they fasten themselves to stones.

8. In insects, two small, oblong, fleshy bodies, placed just above the trunk, as in gnats, moths and butterflies.

BEARD, verb transitive berd. To take by the beard; to seize, pluck, or pull the beard in contempt or anger.

1. To oppose to the face; to set at defiance.

I have been bearded by boys.

BEARD'ED, adjective berd'ed. Having a beard, as a man. Having parallel hairs or tufts of hair, as the leaves of plants.

1. Barbed or jagged, as an arrow.

BEARD'ED, participle passive berd'ed. Taken by the beard; opposed to the face.

BEARD'-GRASS, noun A plant, the Andropogon.

BEARD'ING, participle present tense berd'ing. Taking by the beard; opposing to the face.

BEARD'LESS, adjective berd'less. Without a beard; young; not having arrived to manhood. In botany, not having a tuft of hairs.

BEARD'LESSNESS, noun The state or quality of being destitute of beard.

BEARER, noun [See Bear.] One who bears, sustains, or carries; a carrier, especially of a corpse to the grave.

1. One who wears any thing, as a badge or sword.

2. A tree or plant that yields its fruit; as a good bearer

3. In architecture, a post or brick wall between the ends of a piece of timber, to support it. In general, any thing that supports another thing.

4. In heraldry, a figure in an achievement, placed by the side of a shield, and seeming to support it; generally the figure of a beast. The figure of a human creature for a like purpose is called a tenant.

BEAR-GARDEN, noun A place where bears are kept for diversion.

BEAR-GARDEN, adjective Rude; turbulent; as bear-garden sport.

BEARHERD, noun [bear and herd.] A man that tends bears.

BEARING, participle present tense Supporting; carrying; producing.

BEARING, noun Gesture; mien; behavior.

I know him by his bearing [Unusual.]

1. The situation of an object, with respect of another object, by which it is supposed to have a connection with it or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it.

But of this frame, the bearings and the ties.

2. In architecture, the space between the two fixed extremes of a piece of timber, or between one extreme and a supporter.

3. In navigation, the situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc. Also, an arch of the horizon intercepted between the nearest meridian and any distant object, either discovered by the eye and referred to a point on the compass, or resulting from sinical proportion.

4. In heraldry, bearings are the coats of arms or figures of armories, by which the nobility and gentry are distinguished from common persons.

BEARING-CLOTH, noun A cloth in which a new born child is covered when carried to church to be baptized.

BEAR, noun [Latin ferus, fera, or to barbarus.]

1. A wild quadruped, of the genus Ursus. The marks of the genus are, six fore teeth in the upper jaw, alternately hollow on the inside; and six in the under jaw, the two lateral ones lobated; the dog teeth are solitary and conical; the eyes have a nictitating membrane, and the nose is prominent.

The arctos, or black bear, has his body covered with long shaggy hair. Some are found in Tartary, of a pure white color. The polar, or white bear, has a long head and neck; short, round ears; the hair long, soft, and white, tinged in some parts with yellow. He grows to a great size, the skins of some being 13 feet long. This bear lives in cold climates only, and frequently swims from one isle of ice to another.

2. The name of two constellations in the northern hemisphere, called the greater and lesser bear. In the tail of the lesser bear is the pole star.

BEARISH, adjective Partaking of the qualities of a bear.

BEARLIKE, adjective Resembling a bear.

BEARN,noun adjective A child. In Scotland, bairn.

BEAR'S-BREECH, noun Brank-ursine or Acanthus, a genus of plants.

BEAR'S EAR, noun The trivial name of primula auricula.

BEAR'S EAR SANICLE, noun A species of Cortusa.

BEARWARD, noun A keeper of bears.

BEAR-WHELP, noun The whelp of a bear.

BEAR'S WORT, noun A plant.