Bear"ing (bâr"&ibreve;ng), n.
1. The manner in which one bears or conducts one's
self; mien; behavior; carriage.
I know him by his bearing.
Shak.
2. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
3. The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence,
relation; connection.
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies.
Pope.
4. Purport; meaning; intended significance;
aspect.
5. The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full
bearing; a tree past bearing.
[His mother] in travail of
his bearing.
R. of Gloucester.
6. (Arch.) (a) That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall. (b)
The portion of a support
on which anything rests. (c) Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
7.
(Mach.) (a) The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal. (b)
The part of the support on which a journal rests and
rotates.
8. (Her.)
Any single emblem or charge in an
escutcheon or coat of arms
-- commonly in the pl.
A carriage covered with armorial bearings.
Thackeray.
9. (Naut.)
(a) The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the
compass in which an object is seen; as, the
bearing of the cape was
W. N. W.
(b) pl. The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer. (c) pl. The line of flotation of a vessel when
properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.
Ball
bearings. See under
Ball. -- To bring one to
his bearings, to bring one to
his senses. -- To lose one's
bearings, to become bewildered. -- To take bearings, to ascertain by the compass the position of an object;
to ascertain the relation of one object
or place to
another; to ascertain one's position by
reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or
perplexity.
Syn. -- Deportment; gesture; mien; behavior; manner; carriage; demeanor; port; conduct; direction; relation; tendency; influence.
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