different between bear vs fill

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

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?l, IPA^(key): /f?l/, [f??]
• Rhymes: -?l
• Homophone: Phil

Etymology 1

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan (“to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill”), from Proto-Germanic *fullijan? (“to make full, fill”), from *fullaz (“full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?h?nós (“full”). Cognate with Scots fill (“to fill”), West Frisian folje (“to fill”), Low German füllen (“to fill”), Dutch vullen (“to fill”), German füllen (“to fill”), Danish fylde (“to fill”), Swedish fylla (“to fill”), Norwegian fylle (“to fill”), Icelandic fylla (“to fill”) and Latin plenus (“full”)

Verb

fill (third-person singular simple present fills, present participle filling, simple past and past participle filled)

1. (transitive) To occupy fully, to take up all of.
   • c. 1761, Tobias Smollett, translator, Don Quixote, part 2, book 5, chapter 4:

     […] the drums began to thunder, the sound of trumpets filled the air, the earth trembled beneath their feet, and the hearts of the gazing multitude throbbed with suspense and expectation […]

   • c. 1860, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, chapter 38:

     And now that I have given the one chapter to the theme that so filled my heart, and so often made it ache and ache again, I pass on, unhindered, to the event that had impended over me longer yet […] .

2. (transitive) To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.
   • 1950, Arthur W. Upfield, The Bachelors of Broken Hill, chapter 11:

     She continued to frown as she filled Bony's cup and added brandy to her own.

   • 2005, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, What You Won't Do for Love, 2006 edition, ?ISBN, page 10 [1]:

     She forgave him the pain as he filled the cavity in her back molar. Three weeks later, she let him fill a more intimate cavity.

   • 2006, Gilbert Morris, Sante Fe Woman, B&H, page 95 [2]:

     Grat Herendeen was the first man, a huge man with his bull whip coiled and over his shoulder seeming almost a part of him. He grinned at her as she filled his plate with the eggs and motioned toward the bacon. "Help yourself, Grat."

3. To enter (something), making it full.
   • 1910 May 13, John C. Sherwin, opinion, Delashmutt et al. v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. et al., reprinted in volume 126, North Western Reporter, page 359, at 360:

     In the evening of the 14th of July, there was a rainfall of 3 or 3½ inches in that locality. The water filled the ditch so full that it overflowed the levees on both sides in many places […] .

   • 2004, Peter Westen, The Logic of Consent, Ashgate, ?ISBN, page 322 [3]:

     As the crowd filled the aisles, S repeated loudly what he had announced upon entering the stadium: 'I don't want anyone to touch me, and I will call the police if anyone does.'

4. (intransitive) To become full.

5. (intransitive) To become pervaded with something.

6. (transitive) To satisfy or obey (an order, request, or requirement).

7. (transitive) To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
   • 1891 January 23, Allen Morse, opinion, Lawrence v. Hanley, reprinted in volume 47, Northwestern Reporter, page 753, at 755:

     The board of supervisors called a specal^[sic] election to fill the office, and at such special election Henry C. Andrews was elected judge of probate to fill out the said term.

8. (transitive) To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
   • a. 1891, "Intimate Diagnosis of Diseased Teeth", in Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, volume 13, number 11, November 1891, page 657 [4]:

     Be that as it may, had the disturbance continued after our having filled the molar, and presuming that nothing had been done to the bicuspid, we might have been still as far as ever from knowing where the trouble lay.

9. (transitive) To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.

   • Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
10. (transitive, nautical) To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
11. (transitive, slang, vulgar, of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).

Synonyms

• (occupy fully, take up all of): pervade
• (have sexual intercourse with a female): dick, get up in, knob, swive; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Antonyms

• (add contents to a container or cavity): empty
• (to become full): empty

Hyponyms

• backfill
• polyfill
• refill

Derived terms

• backfill
• filler
• filling
• forthfill
• fulfill, fulfil
• overfill

Related terms

Related terms

• full

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fille, vülle, fülle, from Old English fyllu, from Proto-Germanic *full?? (“fullness”). Cognate with German Fülle.

Noun

fill (plural fills)

1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.

   Don't feed him any more: he's had his fill.

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]

2. An amount that fills a container.

   The mixer returned to the plant for another fill.

3. The filling of a container or area.

   That machine can do 20 fills a minute.

   This paint program supports lines, circles, and textured fills.

4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.

   The ruins of earlier buildings were used as fill for more recent construction.

5. (archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.
6. An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.
7. (music) A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.

   bass fill

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• fill soil
• fill up

Translations

Etymology 3

See thill.

Noun

fill (plural fills)

1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

   • 2008, Martha E. Green, Pioneers in Pith Helmets

     It was a challenge to learn to harness him, guide him slowly back between the fills of the carriage, then to fasten the right buckles and snaps, making the harness and buggy all ready for travel to church or to town.

Albanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi??/

Etymology 1

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin filum.

Noun

fill m (plural fije)

1. thread, yarn

Etymology 2

Unclear. Probably from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stell; fixed, motionless, still, stiff”)

Adverb

fill

1. at once, immediately, alone
2. instant

Derived terms

• filloj
• zanafillë

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan filh, from Latin f?lius, from Latin f?lios (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?y-li-os (“sucker”), a derivation from the verbal root *d?eh?(y)- (“to suck”). Cognate to Occitan filh, French fils.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fi?/
• Rhymes: -i?

Noun

fill m (plural fills)

1. son

Derived terms

• fill de puta

Related terms

• afillar
• filial
• filla

Further reading

• “fill” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /f?i?l?/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /f?i?l??/
• (Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /f??l??/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish fillid (“turns back”), from Proto-Celtic *wel-n-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“turn”); compare German walzen (“roll”), Latin volv? (“turn”)

Verb

fill (present analytic filleann, future analytic fillfidh, verbal noun filleadh, past participle fillte)

1. turn back
2. return
3. fold
4. (biology, geology, medicine) plicate
5. (medicine, of symptoms) recur

Conjugation

Derived terms

• athfhill (“recur; (of decimals) circulate; refold; reflect”)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

fill

1. genitive singular of feall

Mutation

References

• "fill" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fillid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish fillid (“turns back”), from Proto-Celtic *wel-n-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi??/

Verb

fill (past dh'fhill, future fillidh, verbal noun filleadh, past participle fillte)

1. fold; plait; twill
2. imply
3. contain, include

Derived terms

• eadar-fhill (“intervolve”)

Mutation

References

• “fill” in Edward Dwelly, Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic–English Dictionary, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 1911, ?ISBN.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fillid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language