Bearing
Bearing (bâr"ing) , noun
1.
The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.
I know him by his bearing.
2.
Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
3.
The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection.
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies.
4.
Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.
5.
The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing; a tree past bearing.
[His mother] in travail of his bearing.
6.
(a) (Architecture) That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.
(b)
(Architecture) The portion of a support on which anything rests.
(c)
(Architecture) Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
7.
(a) (Machinery) The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal.
(b)
(Machinery) The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.
8.
(Heraldry) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl.
A carriage covered with armorial bearings.
9.
(a) (Nautical) The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen; as, the bearing of the cape was W. N. W.
(b)
(Nautical) The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer.
(c)
(Nautical) The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.
Collocations (4)
Ball bearings , See under Ball.
To bring one to his bearings , to bring one to his senses.
To lose one's bearings , to become bewildered.
To take bearings , to ascertain by the compass the position of an object; to ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Figuratively), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity.