bearing

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛə̯ɹɪŋ/
• (US) enPR: bâr'ĭng IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɹɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛəɹɪŋ

From Middle English beringe, berynge, berende, berande, berand, from Old English berende (“bearing; fruitful”) (also as synonym Old English bǣrende), from Proto-Germanic *berandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to bear; carry”), equivalent to bear +‎ -ing.

bearing

1. present participle of bear

bearing (not comparable)

1. (in combination) That bears (some specified thing).

   a gift-bearing visitor

2. Of a beam, column, or other device, carrying weight or load.

   That's a bearing wall.

From Middle English bering, beringe, berynge, equivalent to bear +‎ -ing.

bearing (plural bearings)

1. A mechanical device that supports another part and/or reduces friction.
2. (navigation, nautical) The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north; a heading or direction.
3. Relevance; a relationship or connection.

   That has no bearing on this issue.

   • Alexander Pope

     But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, / The strong connections, nice dependencies.

4. One's posture, demeanor, or manner.

   She walks with a confident, self-assured bearing.

   • Shakespeare

     I know him by his bearing.

5. (in the plural) Direction or relative position.
6. (architecture) That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.

   A lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.

7. (architecture) The portion of a support on which anything rests.
8. (architecture, proscribed) The unsupported span.

   The beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.

9. (heraldry) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms.
   • Thackeray

     A carriage covered with armorial bearings.

• find one’s bearings
• get one’s bearings
• lose one’s bearings

• ABEC
• bearing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Binegar, bangier, barge in