When you walk into a room with your shoulders straight and your head up, people might say you have a noble bearing. Bearing is the way you hold your body, and it often means you hold it well.
Bearing has many uses, but they mostly involve support and/or direction. Bearing, for example, is the name given to a mechanical part that supports a moving joint — like a ball bearing. In buildings, bearings are walls or beams that support the building. In the same way, when you carry your body, you are bearing yourself up. Bearing also is used to talk about direction and travel: you could step off the sidewalk and nearly be run over by a car bearing north.
1 |
n |
characteristic way of bearing one's body
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2 |
adjn |
(of a structural member) withstanding a weight or strain
a rotating support placed between moving parts to allow them to move easily
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3 |
n |
relevant relation or interconnection
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4 |
n |
the direction or path along which something moves or along which it lies
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5 |
n |
heraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield
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