rear

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to lift oneself, rise”). Cognate with Scots rere (“to construct, build, rear”), Icelandic reisa (“to raise”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raisjan, “to cause to rise, lift up, establish”), German reisen (“to travel”, literally “to rear up and depart”); and a doublet of raise. More at rise.

Related to rise and raise, which is used for several of its now archaic or obsolete senses and for some of its senses that are currently more common in other dialects of English.

Alternative forms

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

  1. (transitive) To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster. ("Raise" is more common in American English.)
    • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Southerne
      He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue.
  2. (transitive, said of people towards animals) To breed and raise. (Less common than "raise" in American English.)
    The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.
  3. (intransitive) To rise up on the hind legs
    The horse was shocked, and thus reared.
  4. (intransitive, usually with "up") To get angry.
  5. (intransitive) To rise high above, tower above.
  6. (transitive, literary) To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
    Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)
    The monster slowly reared its head.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss; he reared me.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Lord Lytton
      Mine [shall be] the first hand to rear her banner.
  7. (transitive, rare) To construct by building; to set up
    to rear defenses or houses
    to rear one government on the ruins of another.
  8. (transitive, rare) To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Isaac Barrow
      It reareth our hearts from vain thoughts.
  9. (transitive, obsolete) To lift and take up.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
      And having her from Trompart lightly reared, Upon his set the lovely load.
  10. (transitive, obsolete) To rouse; to strip up.
Usage notes
  • It is standard US English to raise children, and this usage has become common in all kinds of English since the 1700s. Until fairly recently, however, US teachers taught the traditional rule that one should raise crops and animals, but rear children, despite the fact that this contradicted general usage. It is therefore not surprising that some people still prefer to rear children and that this is considered correct but formal in US English. It is widespread in UK English and not considered formal.
  • It is generally considered incorrect to rear crops or (adult) animals in US English, but this expression is common in UK English.
Synonyms
  • (rise up on the hind legs): prance
The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}} to add them to the appropriate sense(s).
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English reren, from Old English hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Cognate with Dutch roeren (“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren (“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra (“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra (“to stir”).

Alternative forms

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

  1. (transitive) To move; stir.
  2. (transitive, of geese) To carve.
    Rere that goose!
  3. (regional, obsolete) To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)
    He healeth the blind and he reareth to life the dead.
    (Speculum Sacerdotale c. 15th century)
Usage notes
References

Etymology 3

From Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”), Dutch roeren (“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren (“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra (“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra (“to stir”).

Alternative forms

Adjective

rear (comparative rearer or more rear, superlative rearest or most rear)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal) (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
  2. (chiefly US) (of meats) Rare.
Derived terms
  • rear-boiled
  • rear-roasted

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.


Adjective

rear (not comparable)

  1. Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost
    the 'rear rank of a company
    sit in the 'rear seats of a car
Antonyms
Translations

Adverb

rear (comparative more rear, superlative most rear)

  1. (Britain, dialect) early; soon
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Gay.
      Then why does Cuddy leave his cot so rear!

Noun

rear (plural rears)

  1. The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last on order; - opposed to front.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      Nipped with the lagging rear of winter's frost.
  2. (military) Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear.
  3. (anatomy) The buttocks, a creature's bottom
Synonyms
Translations
the posterior, butt(ocks)- only terms with directional notion
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

  1. To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
  2. (transitive, vulgar, Britain) To sodomize (perform anal sex)
Derived terms

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

rear

  1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of reor

Swedish

Verb

rear

  1. present tense of rea.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.