English Explanatory Dictionary

rear

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
  2. To breed and raise.
  3. To rise up on the hind legs.
  4. To get angry.
  5. To rise high above, tower above.
  6. To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
  7. To construct by building; to set up
  8. To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
  9. To lift and take up.
  10. To rouse; to strip up.
adj
  1. Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost.
adv
  1. early; soon
noun
  1. The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.
  2. Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
  3. The buttocks or bottom.
verb
  1. To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
  2. To sodomize (perform anal sex)
verb
  1. To move; stir.
  2. To carve.
  3. To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)
adj
  1. (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
  2. (of meats) Rare.

Pronunciation

/ɹɪɹ/ /ɹɪəɹ/ /ɹɪə(ɹ)/ [ɹɪə̯(ɹ)] en-us-rear.ogg

Word forms

rear rears rearing reared reer rere rare rearer more rear rearest most rear

Etymology

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-West Germanic *raiʀijan, 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.

Synonyms

prance rear end

Antonyms

front

Related words

reremouse uproar

Derived words

childrearing corear misrear raring rearing bit rear one's head rear one's ugly head rear up unreared uprear in the rear with the gear my rear bring up the rear behind kingpin to rear axle pain in the rear rear admiral rear back rear double biceps rear echelon rear end rear-end rear-end collision rear-ended rear-ender rear exit rear-fanged rearfoot rear guard rearguard rear-guard rear gunner rear-horse rearhorse rear light rearmost rearmouse rear naked choke rear projection rearseat rearset rearsight rear sight - the sight nearest the breech rear-view mirror rear view rear-view rearview rear vision mirror rear-vision mirror rearward rearwards rear wheel rear-wheel drive unified rear triangle rear-boiled rear-roasted
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary