Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A bear.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name given to the bear.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A bear; -- so called in popular tales and fables.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a folk name for a bear, especially the brown bear, Ursus arctos

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large ferocious bear of Eurasia
  • noun a conventional name for a bear used in tales following usage in the old epic `Reynard the Fox'

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, name of the bear in History of Reynard the Fox, translated by William Caxton from Middle Dutch bruun, bruin, brown, name of the bear in the Middle Dutch version of the fable; see bher- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch bruin ("brown") via William Caxton's 1485 translation of a Dutch version of the legend of Reynard the Fox. Bruin is the bear, named for his brown color.

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