Forms: 4 berere, 4–6 -er, 5 -are, -our, berrer, 5–6 berar, 6 bearor, 6– bearer. [f. BEAR v.1 + -ER1.]
I. He who or that which carries or brings.
1. One who carries or conveys; a carrier, a porter. a. generally.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xlvi. 2. Oure chargis with heuy berthene … to-brosyd ben … thei myȝten not sauen the berere.
1483. Cath. Angl., 29. A berer, baiulus.
1547. Act 1 Edw. VI., iii. § 9. The … nurse, or other the bearer about of the childe.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. ii. 18. To be bearers of burdens.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, II. iv. 13. To crowd about the sedan … to make the bearers stop.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 239. Fleeces … In their own bearer’s blood were dyed.
1870. Nicholson, Zool. (1880), 235. The scolex [a tape worm] apparently leads an independent life in water, and its intermediary bearer (supposed by some to be a fish …) is at present unknown.
b. of a non-material burden.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. x. 94. He wes chosyn þare Of þis charge to be berare.
1483. Cath. Angl., 29. A berer of wytnes, testis.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 67 b. Lucifer, that is to say, the lyght berer.
c. One who helps to carry a corpse to the grave, or who holds the pall in a funeral procession.
1633. P. Fletcher, Elisa, II. xli. Six mournfull bearers, the sad hearse attending.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 291. A burial … not one … bearer being dressed in black.
1859. Capern, Ball. & Songs, 179. The tramp of the bearers and horses Beats out the death-march on the air.
d. In India: a. A palanquin carrier; b. A domestic servant who has charge of his master’s clothes, furniture, and (often) his ready money. [Wilson conjectured this latter name to be a corruption of Bengali behārā; but the domestic ‘bearer’ was simply the headman of a set of palanquin bearers when the latter were universally used.]
1766. J. Grose, Voy. E. Ind., I. 153 (Y.). The poles which … are carried by six, but most commonly by four bearers.
1811. Mrs. Sherwood, Henry & Bearer, 3. A bearer, who … had taken care of Henry from the day that he was born. Note. A servant, whose work is to carry a palanquin; but who is frequently employed to take care of children. Ibid. (c. 1813), Ayah & Lady, vii. 39. The bearers had nothing to do but to carry their Lady to church.
1880. G. A. Mackay, 21 Days in Ind. (1882), 92. The Ayah and Bearer sit with Baby in the verandah.
e. In comb. with various sbs., as cup-, palanquin-, pall-, shield-, standard-bearer.
c. 1500. Cocke Lorelles B., 10. Tankarde berers … and spere planers.
1611. Bible, Nehem. i. 11. For I was the kings cupbearer [Coverdale, butler].
1824. Macaulay, Ivry. And should my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xxxviii. A double set of palanquin-bearers.
1862. F. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (ed. 9), 40. Pallbearers on each side of the corpse.
2. One who brings a letter, a verbal message, tidings, rumors, etc.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3226. Apon his kne he did him suere Þat he suld be lel errand berer.
1462. J. Paston, in Lett., 442, II. 92. The berour here of can enfourme you.
1566. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 268. The rest of our myndis this faythfull berare will schaw you at lenth.
1695. Pepys, Diary, VI. 182. In behalf of this young man, the bearer.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxix. 271. An order … to give the bearer fifteen lashes.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 589. Others … trafficked in the secrets of which they were the bearers.
3. The actual holder or presenter of a cheque, draft, or other order to pay money.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1862/8. A Note … for Ninety nine Pounds … paid to Edward Callender or Bearer.
1809. R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 12. A Promissory Note payable to Bearer, need not be endorsed.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xxix. Fill up a cheque for five hundred pounds, self or bearer.
4. Her. One who bears heraldic arms.
¶ The sense of ‘supporters,’ copied in mod. dictionaries from Johnson, (who inserted it from Bailey’s folio of 1731), is apparently only a traditional dictionary error: see quot. 1885.
1610. Gwillim, Heraldry, § 3 x. (1660), 144.
1787. Porny, Heraldry, 19, note. Such [tinctures] as should be used for marks of disgrace in the Bearers.
1885. G. E. Cockayne (Norroy King of Arms), in letter: We never use the word ‘bearers’ for ‘supporters’: the ‘bearers’ of the arms of Howard are the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Carlisle, etc., themselves, not the supporters used by these noblemen.
5. The possessor of any personal endowment or quality; the holder of rank or office; hence office-bearer, etc.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 29. O Maiestie! When thou do’st pinch thy Bearer. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 104. The beautie that is borne here in the face, The bearer knowes not.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvi. ‘That’s speaking to the purpose’ … said the office-bearer.
6. That in, or by means of, which anything is carried; e.g., a bier.
1847. Halliwell, s.v., In Kent the bier is sometimes called a bearer.
1862. F. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (ed. 9), 116. Nos. 8 and 9 bring up hot shot on a bearer.
1883. Daily News, 27 July, 2/1. For carrying this … bearer poles of very ingenious design have been devised.
II. He who or that which supports or sustains.
† 7. One who supports or sustains a weight, or who holds up what would fall; an upholder. Obs.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg. A susteynour and a berar up of the chirch.
1555. Bp. Ferrar, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. II. App. xlvii. The bolsterors and bearors of the promoters.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. 333. Many have reported, that I have been a bearer of such as have maintained evil opinions.
† 8. One who sustains or joins in sustaining a charge or responsibility. Obs.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 89. The richest and ablest men in everie towne are … subsidymen, and the poorer … onely bearers with them.
a. 1663. Sanderson, Wks. (1854), I. 185 (D.). As men use to do in common payments and taxes, we plead hard to have bearers and partners that may go a share with us.
a. 1737. Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. I. xxviii. 202. A bearer with them … in printing of their books.
9. Mechanics. Anything used as a support or stay.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 157. Bearer, viz. a Post or Brick-wall that is Trimmed up between the two ends of a piece of Timber, to shorten its Bearing.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 219. Bearer—any thing used by way of support to another.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 183. To check the effect of the bearers or strutts of the ribs.
b. spec. Applied to various mechanical contrivances for sustaining or taking off pressure: e.g., in Printing, to a kind of ‘packing’ used to lessen the pressure upon the types in certain places.
1846. Print. Appar. Amateurs, 30. The introduction of ‘bearers’ which serve to reduce the pressure upon the types, or rather to bear off a part of the pressure.
1881. C. Edwards, Organs, 57. The bearers are strips of wood fixed between the sliders, which … support the weight of the upper boards, pipes, &c.
1884. F. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 32. [A] Bearer … [is] a piece of metal soldered to the middle of a watch case as a support for the joint.
10. dial. (See quot.)
1871. E. Peacock, A. Skirlaugh, II. 89. Where in one of the drains a sunken floor of wood, called a bearer, was deposited for … making a safe watering place for the cattle.
III. 11. She who, or that which, brings forth or produces; spec. a fruit-yielding tree.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, IV. vii. (1483), 61. I maye wel be cleped only the Appeltree and berer of this Appel.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 76. The Tree is a great Bearer.
1872. H. Macmillan, True Vine, v. 190. The celebrated vine of Hampton Court is a most productive bearer.
