rear

English Online Dictionary. What means rear‎? What does rear mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɪ(ə)ɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪə̯/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

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.

Alternative forms

• reer, rere, rare (all obsolete)

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. (transitive) To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
2. (transitive, said of people towards animals) To breed and raise.

3. (intransitive) To rise up on the hind legs

4. (intransitive, usually with "up") To get angry.
5. (intransitive) To rise high above, tower above.
6. (transitive, literary) To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.

   Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)

   The monster slowly reared its head.
7. (transitive, rare) To construct by building; to set up

   to rear defenses or houses

   to rear one government on the ruins of another.
8. (transitive, rare) To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To lift and take up.
10. (transitive, obsolete) To rouse; to strip up.

Usage notes

• It is standard US English to raise children, and this usage has become common in all kinds of English since the 1700s. Until fairly recently, however, US teachers taught the traditional rule that one should raise crops and animals, but rear children, despite the fact that this contradicted general usage. It is therefore not surprising that some people still prefer to rear children and that this is considered correct but formal in US English. It is widespread in UK English and not considered formal.

• It is generally considered incorrect to rear crops or (adult) animals in US English, but this expression is common in UK English.

Synonyms

• (rise up on the hind legs): prance

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.

Adjective

rear (not comparable)

1. Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost

Antonyms

• front

Translations

Adverb

rear (not comparable)

1. (British, dialect) early; soon

Noun

rear (plural rears)

1. The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.

   Antonym: front
2. (military) Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
3. (anatomy) The buttocks or bottom.

Synonyms

• (buttocks): rear end

Derived terms

• in the rear with the gear
• my rear

Translations

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
2. (transitive, vulgar, British) To sodomize (perform anal sex)

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Middle English reren, from Old English hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Cognate with Dutch roeren (“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren (“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra (“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra (“to stir”).

Alternative forms

• reer, rere (all obsolete)

Verb

rear (third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. (transitive) To move; stir.
2. (transitive, of geese) To carve.

3. (regional, obsolete) To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)

   (Speculum Sacerdotale c. 15th century)

Usage notes

• In the sense "bring to life", the more common variant of to rear to life is to raise to life. “I pray you, Declan, servant of God, that in the name of Christ you would raise to life for me the seven hostages whom I held in bondage from the chieftains of Munster." (Life of Saint Declan of Ardmore By Saint Declan of Ardmore, Aeterna Press, 2015.)

Related terms

• reremouse
• uproar

References

• The Middle English Dictionary

Etymology 4

From Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”), Dutch roeren (“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren (“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra (“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra (“to stir”).

Alternative forms

• reer, rere
• rare (US)

Adjective

rear (comparative rearer or more rear, superlative rearest or most rear)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
2. (chiefly US) (of meats) Rare.

Derived terms

• rear-boiled
• rear-roasted

Anagrams

• arré, rare

Latin

Verb

rear

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of reor

Swedish

Verb

rear

1. present indicative of rea

Anagrams

• rare