bearing

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The manner in which one carries or conducts oneself: the poise and bearing of a champion.
2. n. A machine or structural part that supports another part.
3. n. A device that supports, guides, and reduces the friction of motion between fixed and moving machine parts.
4. n. Something that supports weight.
5. n. The part of an arch or beam that rests on a support.
6. n. The act, power, or period of producing fruit or offspring.
7. n. The quantity produced; yield.
8. n. Direction, especially angular direction measured from one position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines.
9. n. Awareness of one's position or situation relative to one's surroundings. Often used in the plural: lost my bearings after taking the wrong exit.
10. n. Relevant relationship or interconnection: Those issues have no bearing on our situation.
11. n. Heraldry A charge or device on a field.
12. adj. Architecture Designed to support structural weight: a bearing wall.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Support, as of a principle or an action; maintenance; defense.
2. n. The act of enduring, especially of enduring patiently or without complaining; endurance.
3. n. The manner in which a person bears or comports himself; carriage; mien; behavior.
4. n. The mutual relation of the parts of a whole; mode of connection.
5. n. The special meaning or application of anything said or written.
6. n. The act or capability of producing or bringing forth: as, a tree past bearing.
7. n. In architecture, the space between the two fixed extremes of a beam or timber, or between one extreme and a supporter: that is, its unsupported span.
8. n. In machinery, the part in contact with which a journal moves; that part of a shaft or an axle which is in contact with its supports; in general, the part of any piece where it is supported, or the part of another piece on which it rests.
9. n. Same as bearing-note.
10. n. plural In ship-building, the widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer; the line of flotation which is formed by the water on her sides when upright, with provisions, stores, etc., on board in proper trim.
11. n. In heraldry, any single charge of a coat of arms; any one of the ordinaries, or any heraldic bird, beast, or other figure (see charge); hence, in the plural, the whole heraldic display to which a person is entitled. See arm, 7.
12. n. The direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen, or the direction of one object from another, with reference to the points of the compass. In geology and mining, used in speaking either of the outcrop of the strata or of the direction of any metalliferous lode or deposit, whether under ground or at the surface: nearly synonymous with run, course, and strike.
13. Supporting; sustaining: as, a bearing wall or partition (that is, a wall or partition supporting another).
14. Solid; substantial: as, “a good bearing dinner,”
15. n. That part of a construction which receives a superincumbent weight.
16. n. The act or condition of taking or supporting that weight: thus, the upper bed of a block or pier affords a bearing of so many square inches; or may be said not to give a good bearing, or to need an iron plate to provide a better bearing.
17. n. That part of a superincumbent mass which rests directly upon the supporting member: thus, a lintel has 6 inches' (or 48 square inches') bearing at either end.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Of a beam, column, or other device, carrying weight or load.
2. n. A mechanical device that supports another part and/or reduces friction.
3. n. navigation, nautical The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and another object, or between it and that of true north; a heading or direction.
4. n. Relevance; a relationship or connection.
5. n. One's posture, demeanor, or manner.
6. n. in the plural Direction or relative position.
7. v. present participle of bear.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.
2. n. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
3. n. The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection.
4. n. Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.
5. n. The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth.
6. n. That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.
7. n. The portion of a support on which anything rests.
8. n. Improperly, the unsupported span.
9. n. The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal.
10. n. The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.
11. n. (Her.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl.
12. n. The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen.
13. n. The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer.
14. n. The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. characteristic way of bearing one's body
2. n. relevant relation or interconnection
3. n. the direction or path along which something moves or along which it lies
4. n. dignified manner or conduct
5. n. heraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield
6. adj. (of a structural member) withstanding a weight or strain
7. n. a rotating support placed between moving parts to allow them to move easily