Bearess

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of she-bear.

    "See, farther, two every-day figures sitting faithfully together like a pair of turtle doves, or a bear and his bearess.[…]The poor horse drew Bear and his Bearess heavily along."

  2. 2
    A female bearer. rare

    "As it is the only spirit I possess I heed his advice and bring it back to the hotel to find the entire force standing at attention, ready to receive me. I pass on to my room with a procession of bearers and bearesses strung out behind me like the tail of a kite, anything from a tea-tray to the sugar tongs being sufficient excuse for joining the parade."

Example

More examples

"See, farther, two every-day figures sitting faithfully together like a pair of turtle doves, or a bear and his bearess.[…]The poor horse drew Bear and his Bearess heavily along."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From bear + -ess.

Etymology 2

From bearer + -ess.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.