rear
/ˈɹɪə/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.43 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
Literary; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue."
- "The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years."
- "The horse was shocked, and thus reared."
- "By my side reared a solid stone wall, and beneath was simply the room we stood in, for the space below the stairway was not enclosed."
- "Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)"
- "The monster slowly reared its head."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹɪə/
- British English: /ˈɹɪə/
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- Literary
- Obsolete
- British usage
- American usage
Inflected Forms
rears (present, singular)
rearing (participle, present)
reared (participle, past)
reared (past)
reer (alternative)
rere (alternative)
rare (alternative)
rears (plural)
rearer (comparative)
more rear (comparative)
rearest (superlative)
most rear (superlative)