Wear , n. The result of
wearing or use; consumption, diminution, or impairment due to use, friction, or the like; as,
the wear of this coat
has been good.
Wear , n.
1. The act
of wearing, or the state
of being worn; consumption by use; diminution by friction; as, the wear of a garment.
2. The thing worn; style of dress; the
fashion.
Motley 's the
only wear.
Shak. Wear and
tear, the loss by wearing, as of machinery in use; the loss or injury to which anything is subjected by use, accident, etc.
Wear , v. i. 1. To
endure or suffer use; to last under
employment; to bear the consequences of use, as waste, consumption, or attrition; as, a coat
wears well or ill; - - hence, sometimes applied to character, qualifications, etc.; as, a man
wears well as an acquaintance.
2. To be
wasted, consumed, or diminished, by
being used; to suffer injury, loss, or extinction by use or time; to decay, or be spent, gradually. "Thus wore out night." Milton.
Away, I say; time wears.
Shak.
Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this
people that is with thee.
Ex. xviii.
18. His stock of money began to wear very low.
Sir W. Scott. The
family . . . wore out in the
earlier part of the century.
Beaconsfield. To wear off, to pass away
by degrees; as, the follies of youth wear off with age. -- To wear on, to pass on; as, time wears on. G. Eliot. -- To wear weary, to become weary, as by wear, long occupation, tedious employment,
etc.
Wear , v. t. [imp.
Wore (?); p. p. Worn (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Wearing. Before the 15th century wear was a
weak verb, the imp. & p. p. being Weared.]
[OE. weren,
werien, AS. werian to
carry, to wear, as arms
or clothes; akin to OHG. werien,
weren, to clothe, Goth. wasjan, L. vestis
clothing, vestire to
clothe, Gr. &?;, Skr. vas. Cf. Vest.]
1. To carry or bear
upon the person; to bear upon one's self, as an article
of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage, etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have
on; as, to
wear a coat; to wear a shackle.
What compass will you wear your farthingale?
Shak.
On her white breast a sparkling cross s&?;&?; wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
Pope. 2. To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect
or manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her
countenance. "He
wears the rose of youth upon
him." Shak.
His innocent gestures wear
A meaning half divine.
Keble.
3. To use
up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to consume by use; to waste;
to use up; as, to wear clothes rapidly.
4. To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend.
That wicked wight his days doth wear.
Spenser. The waters wear the stones.
Job xiv. 19. 5. To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a
channel; to wear a hole.
6. To form or shape by, or as by, attrition.
Trials wear us into a liking
of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us.
Locke. To wear
away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy, by gradual attrition or decay. -- To wear off, to diminish or remove by
attrition or slow decay; as, to wear
off the nap of cloth. -- To wear on or upon, to wear. [Obs.] "[I] weared upon my gay
scarlet gites [gowns.]" Chaucer. -- To wear out. (a) To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay; as, to wear out
a coat or a book. (b) To consume tediously. "To wear out miserable days." Milton. (c) To harass; to tire. "[He] shall wear out the saints of the Most High." Dan vii. 25.
(d) To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service. --
To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. [Colloq.]
Wear (?), v. t. [Cf. Veer.]
(Naut.) To cause to go about, as a vessel, by putting the helm up, instead of alee as in tacking, so that the vessel's bow
is turned away from, and her
stern is presented to, the wind,
and, as she
turns still farther, her sails fill on the other
side; to veer.
Wear (?; 277), n.
Same as Weir.
Hear it pronounced