different between apple vs bear

English

Etymology

From Middle English appel, from Old English æppel (“apple, fruit in general, ball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu, from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple”) (compare Scots aipple, West Frisian apel, Dutch appel, German Apfel, Swedish äpple, Danish æble), from Proto-Indo-European *h?éb?l, *h?ébl? (“apple”) (compare Welsh afal, Irish úll, Lithuanian óbuol?s, Russian ??????? (jábloko), possibly Ancient Greek ??????? (ámpelos, “vine”)).

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) enPR: ?p?(?)l, IPA^(key): /?æp.?l/, [?æp.??]
• Rhymes: -æp?l
• Hyphenation: ap?ple

Noun

apple (plural apples)

1. A common, round fruit produced by the tree Malus domestica, cultivated in temperate climates. [from 9th c.]
   • c. 1378, William Langland, Piers Plowman:

     I prayed pieres to pulle adown an apple.
2. Any fruit or vegetable, or any other thing produced by a plant such as a gall or cone, especially if produced by a tree and similar to the fruit of Malus domestica; also (with qualifying words) used to form the names of specific fruits such as custard apple, rose apple, thorn apple etc. [from 9th c.]
   • 1585, Richard Eden (translating a 1555 work by Peter Martyr), Decades of the New World, v:

     Venemous apples wherwith they poyson theyr arrows.

   • 1607 (edition 1673), Topsell, Four-footed Beasts, page 516:

     The fruit or Apples of Palm-trees.

   • 1636, John Gerard, The Herball Or Generall Historie of Plantes: Very Much Enlarged and Amended by Thomas Johnson Citizen and Apothecarye of London, page 1356:

     This apple is called in high-Dutch, Zy?bel: in low-Dutch, Pijnappel: in English, Pineapple, Clog, and Cone. […] The whole cone or apple being boiled with fresh Horehound, saith Galen, […] maketh an excellent medicine for to clense the chest and lungs.

   • 1658, trans. Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magick, I.16:

     In Persia there grows a deadly tree, whose Apples are Poison, and present death.

   • 1765, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued, page 337:

     The fly injects her juices into the oak-leaf, to raise an apple for hatching her young.

   • 1784, James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, II:

     Otaheite […] is remarkable for producing great quantities of that delicious fruit we called apples, which are found in none of the others, except Eimeo.

   • 1800, John Tuke, General View of the Agriculture of the North Riding of Yorkshire, page 150:

     It is generally thought, that the curled topped potatoe proceeds from a neglect of raising fresh sorts from the apple or [potato-]seed.

   • 1825, Theodric Romeyn Beck, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, 2nd edition, page 565:

     Hippomane mancinella. (Manchineel-tree.) Dr. Peysonnel relates that a soldier, who was a slave with the Turks, eat some of the apples of this tree, and was soon seized with a swelling and pain of the abdomen.

   • 1833, Charles Williams, The Vegetable World, page 179:

     One kind of apple or gall, inhabited only by one grub, is hard and woody on the outside, resembling a little wooden ball, of a yellowish color, but internally it is of a soft, spongy texture.

   • 1853, Mrs. S. F. Cowper, Country Rambles in England, Or, Journal of a Naturalist, page 172:

     The cross-bill will have seeds from the apple, or cone of the fir—the green-finch, seeds from the uplands, or door of barn, or rick-yard.

   • 1889, United States. Department of Agriculture, Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, page 376:

     The "apple" or gall usually forms a somewhat kidney-shaped excrescence, attached by a small base on the concave side, and varying in size from a half an inch to an inch and a half in length.

3. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica, such as a globe, ball, or breast.
   • 1705, J. S., City and Country Recreation, page 104:

     […] shrugging up her Shoulders, to shew the tempting Apples of her white Breasts, Then suddainly lets them sink again, to hide them, blushing, as if this had been done by chance.

   • 1761, An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, page 508:

     […] count-palatine of the Rhine, who shall carry the globe or imperial apple; and, on his left, the marquis of Brandenburg carrying the scepter.

   • 1851, Robert Bigsby, Old Places Revisited; Or the Antiquarians Enthusiast, page 200:

     The arms of Upland were a "golden apple," or globe, surrounded with a belt, in allusion to the monarchy.

   • 1956, Marion Hargrove, The Girl He Left Behind: Or, All Quiet in the Third Platoon, page 129:

     Andy picked up his two grenades and followed the line into the pits. The apples felt strangely heavy in his hands, and when he looked at them one was as ugly and lethal-looking as the other.

   • 1975, C. W. SMITH, Country Music IX, 256:

     A peasant blouse that showed the tops of those lovely little apples.

   • 2008, Harald Kleinschmidt, Ruling the Waves, Bibliotheca Humanistica & Refo

     Contrary to Henricus Martellus, Behaim included the tropics [on his globe...]. Evidently, there was no space for a Fourth Continent on Behaim's apple, although some recollection of the Catalan map seems to lie behind the shape of southern Africa.

   1. (baseball, slang, obsolete) The ball in baseball. [from 20th c.]
   2. (informal) When smiling, the round, fleshy part of the cheeks between the eyes and the corners of the mouth.
   3. The Adam's apple.
      • 1898, Hugh Charles Clifford, Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow, page 99:

        The sweat of fear and exertion was streaming down his face and chest, and his breath came in short, tearing, hard-drawn gasps and gulps, while the apple in his throat leaped up and down ceaselessly ...

      • 1922, Henry Williamson, Dandelion Days, page 113:

        Elsie went away with her parents to Belgium and the convent-school on the twelfth, and as they left The Firs in the battered station cab surrounded by boxes and trunks, Willie could not speak. The apple in his throat rose and remained there  […]

      • 1999, Liam O'Flaherty, The Collected Stories, Wolfhound Press (IE) (?ISBN)

        The apple in his neck was hitting against his collar every time he drew breath and he tore at his collar nervously.

      • 2005, Sandra Benitez, Night of the Radishes, Hyperion (?ISBN)

        The apple in his neck bobbles as he gulps. “You've got to be kidding.” “No, I'm not. Your inheritance amounts to maybe three hundred thousand dollars."

      • 2020, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam (?ISBN), page 959:

        If the Hound had not been moving, the knife might have cored the apple of his throat; instead it only grazed his ribs, and wound up quivering in the wall near the door. He laughed then, a laugh as cold and hollow as if it had come from the bottom of a deep well.

4. The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, eaten by Adam and Eve according to post-Biblical Christian tradition; the forbidden fruit. [from 11th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book X:

     Him by fraud I have seduced / From his Creator; and, the more to encrease / Your wonder, with an apple […].

   • 1976, Joni Mitchell, "Song for Sharon":

     Sharon you've got a husband

     And a family and a farm

     I've got the apple of temptation

     And a diamond snake around my arm
5. A tree of the genus Malus, especially one cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree. [from 15th c.]
   • 2000 PA Thomas, Trees: Their Natural History, page 227:

     This allows a weak plant to benefit from the strong roots of another, or a vigorous tree (such as an apple) to be kept small by growing on 'dwarfing rootstock'.
6. The wood of the apple tree. [from 19th c.]
7. (in the plural, Cockney rhyming slang) Short for apples and pears, slang for stairs. [from 20th c.]
8. (derogatory, ethnic slur) A Native American or red-skinned person who acts and/or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.
9. (ice hockey slang) An assist.
10. (slang) A CB radio enthusiast.
    • 1977, New Scientist (volume 74, page 764)

      Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") […]

Synonyms

• (a tree of the genus Malus): malus

Derived terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: apel
• ? Abenaki: aples (< apples)
• ? Assamese: ???? (apel)
• ? Bengali: ???? (apel)
• ? Dhivehi: ??????? (?falu)
• ? East Futuna: apo
• ? Fijian: yapolo
• ? Fiji Hindi: aapul
• ? Finnish: äpüli
• ? Malay: epal (Malaysia)
• ? Maori: ?poro
• ? Marshallese: ab??
• ? Sinhalese: ???? (æpal)
• ? Sotho: apole
• ? Telugu: ????? (?pil)
• ? Thai: ??????? (??p-bp??n)
• ? Yurok: ??pl?s (< apples)

Translations

Verb

apple (third-person singular simple present apples, present participle appling, simple past and past participle appled)

1. To become apple-like.
2. (obsolete) To form buds, bulbs, or fruit.
   • 1601 (1634), Philemon Holland (translator), Pliny, II, page 98:

     Either they floure, or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit.

   • 1796 (1800), Charles Marshall, Gardening, page 245:

     The cabbage turnep is of two kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.

See also

• malic
• (ethnic slur): coconut, Oreo, banana, Twinkie

References

Anagrams

• Appel, appel, pepla

Middle English

Noun

apple

1. Alternative form of appel

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??(?)/, /b??(?)/, enPR: bâr
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b???/, enPR: bâr
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /?bi??(r)/, /b??(r)/
• Homophone: bare
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• (Southern US, colloquial) IPA^(key): /b??/
• Homophone: bar (Southern US, colloquial)

Etymology 1

From Middle English bere, from Old English bera, from Proto-West Germanic *ber?, from Proto-Germanic *berô (compare West Frisian bear, Dutch beer, German Bär, Danish bjørn).

Noun

bear (plural bears)

2. 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.
3. (figuratively) A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person. [1579]
4. (finance) An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices. [1744]

   Antonym: bull

5. (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.

6. (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.

   Antonym: twink

7. (engineering) A portable punching machine.
8. (nautical) A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck.
9. (cartomancy) The fifteenth Lenormand card.
10. (colloquial, US) Something difficult or tiresome; a burden or chore.

Synonyms

• (large omnivorous mammal): see Thesaurus:bear
• (rough, uncouth person): see Thesaurus:troublemaker
• (police officer): see Thesaurus:police officer

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Irish: béar

Translations

See bear/translations § Noun.

Verb

bear (third-person singular simple present bears, present participle bearing, simple past and past participle beared)

1. (finance, transitive) To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in.

Adjective

bear (not comparable)

1. (finance, investments) Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall.

Translations

See also

• ursine
• Appendix:Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

• Donald A. Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (2006), Linguistic history of English, vol. 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press ?ISBN

Further reading

• bear on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English beren (“carry, bring forth”), from Old English beran (“to carry, bear, bring”), from Proto-West Germanic *beran, from Proto-Germanic *beran?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?éreti, from *b?er- (“to bear, carry”).

Akin to Old High German beran (“carry”), Dutch baren, Norwegian Bokmål bære, Norwegian Nynorsk bera, German gebären, Gothic ???????????????????????? (bairan), Sanskrit ???? (bhárati), Latin ferre, and Ancient Greek ?????? (phérein), Albanian bie (“to bring, to bear”), Russian ????? (brat?, “to take”), Persian ????? (bordan, “to take, to carry”).

Verb

bear (third-person singular simple present bears, present participle bearing, simple past bore or (archaic) bare, past participle borne or (see usage notes) born)

1. (chiefly transitive) To carry or convey, literally or figuratively.
   1. (transitive, of weapons, flags or symbols of rank, office, etc.) To carry upon one's person, especially visibly; to be equipped with.

   2. (transitive, of garments, pieces of jewellery, etc.) To wear. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   3. (transitive, rarely intransitive, of a woman or female animal) To carry (offspring in the womb), to be pregnant (with).

   4. (transitive) To have or display (a mark or other feature).
      • 1859, Charles Darwin, Origin of Species iv. 88:

        Male stag-beetles often bear wounds from the huge mandibles of other males.

   5. (transitive) To display (a particular heraldic device) on a shield or coat of arms; to be entitled to wear or use (a heraldic device) as a coat of arms. [1400]

   6. (transitive) To present or exhibit (a particular outward appearance); to have (a certain look). [1200]
      • 1930, Essex Chronicle 18 April 9/5:

   7. (transitive) To have (a name, title, or designation). [1225]
      • 2005, Lesley Brown, translator, Plato, Sophist. 234b:

        […] imitations that bear the same name as the things […]

      • 2013, D. Goldberg, Universe in Rearview Mirror iii. 99:

        Heinrich Olbers described the paradox that bears his name in 1823.

   8. (transitive) To possess or enjoy (recognition, renown, a reputation, etc.); to have (a particular price, value, or worth). [1393]

   9. (transitive, of an investment, loan, etc.) To have (interest or a specified rate of interest) stipulated in its terms. [1686]

   10. (transitive, of a person or animal) To have (an appendage, organ, etc.) as part of the body; (of a part of the body) to have (an appendage).

   11. (transitive) To carry or hold in the mind; to experience, entertain, harbour (an idea, feeling, or emotion).
   12. (transitive, rare) To feel and show (respect, reverence, loyalty, etc.) to, towards, or unto a person or thing.

   13. (transitive) To possess inherently (a quality, attribute, power, or capacity); to have and display as an essential characteristic.

   14. (transitive, of a thing) To have (a relation, correspondence, etc.) to something else. [1556]

   15. (transitive) To give (written or oral testimony or evidence); (figurative) to provide or constitute (evidence or proof), give witness.

   16. (transitive) To have (a certain meaning, intent, or effect).

       • Her sentence bore that she should stand a certain time upon the platform.

   17. (reflexive, transitive) To behave or conduct (oneself).
   18. (transitive, rare) To possess and use, to exercise (power or influence); to hold (an office, rank, or position).

       • Every man should bear rule in his own house.

   19. (intransitive, obsolete) To carry a burden or burdens. [1450]
   20. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To take or bring (a person) with oneself; to conduct. [1590]
2. To support, sustain, or endure.
   2. (transitive) To support or sustain; to hold up.

   3. (now transitive outside certain set patterns such as 'bear with'; formerly also intransitive) To endure or withstand (hardship, scrutiny, etc.); to tolerate; to be patient (with).
      • 1700, John Dryden, "Meleager and Atalanta", in: The poetical works, vol. 4, William Pickering, 1852, p. 169:

        I cannot, cannot bear; ’tis past , ’tis done; / Perish this impious , this detested son; […]
   4. (transitive) To sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.).

      The hirer must bear the cost of any repairs.

      • He shall bear their iniquities.

      • 1753, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar: or, the Double Discovery, Tonson and Draper, p. 64:

        What have you gotten there under your arm, Daughter? somewhat, I hope, that will bear your Charges in your Pilgrimage.

   5. (transitive) To admit or be capable of (a meaning); to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change.
      • 1724, Jonathan Swift, Drapier's Letters

        In all criminal cases the most favourable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear.

   6. (transitive) To warrant, justify the need for.

3. To support, keep up, or maintain.
   1. (transitive) To afford, to be something to someone, to supply with something. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
      • 1732–4, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Longmans, Green & Co, 1879, bear%20him%20company%20pope&hl=de&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 10:

        […] admitted to that equal sky, / His faithful dog shall bear him company.

   2. (transitive) To carry on, or maintain; to have. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
      • 1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, § 98:

        […] and he finds the Pleasure, and Credit of bearing a Part in the Conversation, and of having his Reasons sometimes approved and hearken'd to.

4. To press or impinge upon.
   1. (intransitive, usually with on, upon, or against) To push, thrust, press.

      • These men therefore bear hard upon the suspected party.

   2. (intransitive, figuratively) To take effect; to have influence or force; to be relevant.

   3. (intransitive, military, usually with on or upon) Of a weapon, to be aimed at an enemy or other target.
      • 2012, Ronald D. Utt, Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron

        Constitution's gun crews crossed the deck to the already loaded larboard guns as Bainbridge wore the ship around on a larboard tack and recrossed his path in a rare double raking action to bring her guns to bear again on Java's damaged stern.

5. To produce, yield, give birth to.
   1. (transitive) To give birth to (someone or something) (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object).

   2. (transitive, less commonly intransitive) To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops.
      • 1688, John Dryden, Britannia Rediviva

        Betwixt two seasons comes th' auspicious air, / This age to blossom, and the next to bear.

6. (intransitive, originally nautical) To be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere).

7. (transitive, obsolete) To gain or win.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Seeming Wise

     Some think to bear it by speaking a great word.

   • April 5, 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Fifth Sermon Preached Before King Edward (probably not in original spelling)

     She was […] found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge.

Usage notes

• The past participle of bear is usually borne:
  • He could not have borne that load.
  • She had borne five children.
  • This is not to be borne!
• However, when bear is used in the passive voice to mean "to be given birth to" literally or figuratively (e.g. be created, be the result of), the form used to form all tenses is born:
  • She was born on May 3.
  • Racism is usually born out of a real or feared loss of power to a minority or a real or feared decrease in relative prosperity compared to that of the minority.
  • Born three years earlier, he was the eldest of his siblings.
  • "The idea to create [the Blue Ridge Parkway] was born in the travail of the Great Depression […] ." (Tim Pegram, The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger's Memoir, ?ISBN, 2007, page 1)
• Both spellings have been used in the construction born(e) into the world/family and born(e) to someone (as a child). The borne spellings are more frequent in older and religious writings.
  • He was born(e) to Mr. Smith.
  • She was born(e) into the most powerful family in the city.
  • "[M]y father was borne to a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, both devout Lutherans." (David Ross, Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds, ?ISBN, 2009)
• In some colloquial speech, beared can be found for both the simple past and the past participle, although it is usually considered nonstandard and avoided in writing. Similarly, bore may be extended to the past participle; the same provisos apply for this form.

Synonyms

• (to put up with something): brook, endure; See also Thesaurus:tolerate

Derived terms

Translations

References

• bear at OneLook Dictionary Search
• bear in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Etymology 3

Noun

bear (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of bere (“barley”).
   • 1800, Tuke, Agric., 119:

     There are several plots of those species of barley called big, which is six-rowed barley; or bear, which is four-rowed, cultivated.

   • 1818, Marshall, Reports Agric., I. 191:

     Bigg or bear, with four grains on the ear, was the kind of barley.

   • 1895, Dixon, Whittingham Vale, 130:

     Two stacks of beare, of xx boules,

   • 1908, Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, page 151:

     […] one wheat stack, one half-stack of corn, and a little hay, all standing in the barnyard; four stacks of bear in the barn, about three bolls of bear lying on the barn floor, two stacks of corn in the barn, […]

   • 1802-1816, Papers on Sutherland Estate Management, published in 1972, Scottish History Society, Publications:

     Your Horses are Getting Pease Straw, and looking very well. The 2 Stacks of Bear formerly mentioned as Put in by Mr Bookless is not fully dressed as yet so that I cannot say at present what Quantity they may Produce .

Etymology 4

Middle English bere (“pillowcase”), of obscure origin, but compare Old English hl?or-bera (“cheek-cover”). Possibly cognate to Low German büre, whence German Bühre, which in turn has been compared to French bure.

Noun

bear (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) A pillowcase; a fabric case or covering as for a pillow.
   • 1742, William Ellis, The London and Country Brewer [...] Fourth Edition, page 36:

     And, according to this, one of my Neighbours made a Bag, like a Pillow-bear, of the ordinary six-penny yard Cloth, and boiled his Hops in it half an Hour; then he took them out, and put in another Bag of the like Quantity of fresh Hops, […]

   • 1850, Samuel Tymms, Wills and Inventories from the Registers of the Commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the Archdeacon of Sudbury, page 116:

     ij payer of schete, ij pelows wt the berys,

   • 1858, Journal of the Statistical Society of London, page 409:

     1641.—14 yards of femble cloth, 12s. ; 8 yards of linen, 6s. 8d. ; 20 yards of harden, 10s. ; 5 linen sheets, 1l. ; 7 linen pillow bears, 8s. ; 2 femble sheets and a line hard sheet, 10s. ; 3 linen towels, 4s. ; 6 lin curtains and a vallance, 12s. ; […]

   • 1905, Emily Wilder Leavitt, Palmer Groups: John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass. and His Descendants ; Gathered and Arranged for Mr. Lowell Mason Palmer of New York, page 24:

     I give to my Grand Child Lidea Carpenter the Coverlid that her mother spun and my pillow bear and a pint Cup & my great Pott that belongs to the Pott and Trammels.

   • 1941, Minnie Hite Moody, Long Meadows, page 71:

     […] a man's eyes played him false, sitting him before tables proper with damask and pewter, leading him to fall into beds gracious with small and large feather beds for softness and pillowed luxuriously under pretty checked linen pillow bears.

Anagrams

• Aber, Bare, Baré, Brea, Reba, bare, brae, rabe

Irish

Noun

bear m pl

1. alternative genitive plural of bior (“pointed rod or shaft; spit, spike; point”)

Mutation

Further reading

• "bear" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian bera, from Proto-West Germanic *ber?, from Proto-Germanic *berô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b???r/

Noun

bear c (plural bearen, diminutive bearke)

1. bear

Further reading

• “bear (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011