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Wear

//wɛə// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A river in the counties of County Durham and Tyne and Wear, north east England. The cities of Durham and Sunderland are situated upon its grand banks.
"The train then proceeded along the wagonway in the direction of the Wear.[…] The ladies remained at the house, while the men walked to the staith on the Wear, and were shown the process of unloading the wagons into the keels by means of the coal-drop."

Noun

1
Clothing. in-compounds, uncountable
"footwear; outdoor wear; maternity wear"
2
Dated form of weir. alt-of, dated
"Cool and clear, cool and clear, / By shining shingle, and foaming wear;"
3
the act of having on your person as a covering or adornment wordnet
4
Damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time. uncountable
"Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a most strange, as for me it was a most fortunate, thing."
5
a covering designed to be worn on a person's body wordnet

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6
Fashion. uncountable
"Motley's the onely weare."
7
impairment resulting from long use wordnet
8
Wearing. uncountable
"It is obvious, of course, that a cylinder so applied is not for constant wear, and it is not intended in any way to correct any error of refraction, but is used merely as an exercise for a few minutes at a time at repeated intervals. In case of Oblique Astigmatism the wearing of the correction will frequently fail to give satisfaction when complicated by oblique muscular trouble, […]"

Verb

1
To have on:; To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc. transitive
"He's wearing some nice pants today."
2
To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion. UK, dialectal, transitive
3
have or show an appearance of wordnet
4
To have on:; To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner. transitive
"He wears eyeglasses."
5
To defend; protect. UK, dialectal, transitive

Show 19 more definitions

6
have on one's person wordnet
7
To have on:; To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance. transitive
"She wore a smile all day."
8
To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel. UK, dialectal, transitive
"to wear the wolf from the sheep"
9
put clothing on one's body wordnet
10
To erode:; To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.
"You're going to wear a hole in the bottom of those shoes."
11
To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety. UK, dialectal, transitive
12
be dressed in wordnet
13
To erode:; To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use. copulative, intransitive
"The tiles were wearing thin due to years of children's feet."
14
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress wordnet
15
To erode:; To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.
"His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience."
16
deteriorate through use or stress wordnet
17
To erode:; (in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience. colloquial, intransitive
"Her high pitched voice is really wearing on me lately."
18
go to pieces wordnet
19
To endure:; To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation. colloquial
"I know you don't like working with him, but you'll just have to wear it."
20
last and be usable wordnet
21
To endure:; To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate. intransitive
"Don't worry, this fabric will wear. These pants will last you for years."
22
have in one's aspect; wear an expression of one's attitude or personality wordnet
23
To endure:; To pass slowly, gradually or tediously. intransitive
"wear on, wear away."
24
To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.

Etymology

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”). Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते (váste), Ancient Greek ἕννυμι (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸- (waš-). Originally a weak verb (i.e. with a past tense in -ed), it became irregular during the Middle English period by analogy with verbs like beren (whence bear) and teren (whence tear).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, protect, ward off”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”). Cognate with Scots wer, weir (“to defend, protect”), Dutch weren (“to aver, ward off”), German wehren (“to fight”), Swedish värja (“to defend, ward off”), Icelandic verja (“to defend”).

Etymology 4

Probably identical with British Latin Vedra, itself of Celtic origin.

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