BEAR, TO. The direction of an object from the viewer; it is used in the following different phrases: The land's end bore E.N.E.; _i.e._ it was seen from the ship in a line with the E.N.E. point of the compass. We bore down upon the enemy; _i.e._ having the advantage of the wind, or being to windward, we approached the enemy by sailing large, or from the wind. When a ship that was to windward comes under another ship's stern, and so gives her the wind, she is said to bear under the lee; often as a mark of respect. She bears in with the land, is said of a ship when she runs towards the shore. We bore off the land; _i.e._ we increased our distance from the land.--_To bear down_ upon a ship, is to approach her from the windward.--_To bear ordnance_, to carry her guns well.--_To bear sail_, stiff under canvas.--_To bear up_, to put the helm up, and keep a vessel off her course, letting her recede from the wind and move to leeward; this is synonymous with _to bear away_, but is applied to the ship instead of the helm.--_Bear up_, one who has duly served for a commission, but from want of interest bears up broken-hearted and accepts an inferior warrant, or quits the profession, seeking some less important vocation; some middies have borne up and yet become bishops, lord-chancellors, judges, surgeons, &c.--_To bear up round_, is to put a ship right before the wind.--_To bring a cannon to bear_, signifies that it now lies right with the mark.--_To bear off from_, and _in with_ the land, signifies standing off or going towards the coast. BEAR A BOB, OR A FIST. Jocular for "lend a hand." BEAR A HAND. Hasten. BEARD. The silky filaments or byssus by which some testacea adhere to rocks. Of an oyster, the gills. BEARDIE. A northern name of the three-spined stickleback. BEARDING. The angular fore-part of the rudder, in juxtaposition with the stern-post. Also, the corresponding bevel of the stern-post. Also, the bevelling of any piece of timber or plank to any required angle: as the bearding of dead wood, clamps, &c. BEARDING-LINE. In ship-building, is a curved line made by bearding the dead-wood to the shape of the ship's body. BEARERS. Pieces of plank placed on the bolts which are driven through the standards or posts for the carpenters' stages to rest upon. BEARING. An arc of the horizon intercepted between the nearest meridian and any distant object, either discovered by the eye and referred to a point on the compass, or resulting from finical proportion. There is the _true_ or astronomical bearing, and the _magnetic_ bearing. It is also the situation of any distant object, estimated with regard to the ship's position; and in this sense the object must bear either ahead, astern, abreast, on the bow, or on the quarter; if a ship sails with a side wind, a distant object is said to bear to leeward or to windward, on the lee quarter or bow, or on the weather quarter or bow.