bearess

noun

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.”

   “They praised her spirit, and now and then, / The Nurse brought her own little “nevy” Ben, / To play with the future May’ress, / And when he got raps, and taps, and slaps, / Scratches, and pinches, snips, and snaps, / As if from a Tigress or Bearess, / They told him how Lords would court that hand, / And always gave him to understand, / While he rubb’d, poor soul, / His carroty poll, / That his hair had been pull’d by “a Hairess.””

   “Ah, what tender thoughts must glow / In the budding souls of these / Snow-white virgin bearesses / With their soft and dewy eyes ?”

   “The animal so driven was Callisto, the bearess. The hunter was Arcas, her son, who failed to recognize her.”

2. (rare)A female bearer.

   “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.”

   “Ring bearer and bearess were Larry and Mary Lynn Ayers, Springfield, Va., nephew and niece of the bridegroom.”

   “Some aggressively degenerate Chinese emperors and noblemen used to make a spectacle of their comely female sedan-chair bearers. (Perhaps properly: bearesses or she-bears or bearpersons.)”

   “Ring bearess and flower girl were Emily and Elizabeth Goldeman.”

   “On the other hand, we must say that what distinguishes this “concreteness” is the essential, originary distinction between the “physical” person (the bearer, or bearess of the philosophical discourse) and his or her truly being a philosopher.”