rear

Definition of rear

22 senses · 4 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

(transitive)To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.

“He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue.”

See all 22 definitions

verb

(transitive)To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.

“He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue.”
(transitive)To breed and raise.

“The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.”
(intransitive)To rise up on the hind legs.

“The horse was shocked, and thus reared.”
(intransitive, usually)To get angry.
(intransitive)To rise high above, tower above.

“By my side reared a solid stone wall, and beneath was simply the room we stood in, for the space below the stairway was not enclosed.”
(literary, transitive)To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.

“Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)”
“The monster slowly reared its head.”
“In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss; he reared me.”
“Mine [shall be] the first hand to rear her banner.”
(rare, transitive)To construct by building; to set up

“to rear defenses or houses”
“to rear one government on the ruins of another.”
“One reared a font of stone.”
(rare, transitive)To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.

“It reareth our hearts from vain thoughts.”
(obsolete, transitive)To lift and take up.

“And hauing her from Trompart lightly reard, / Vpon his Courser set the louely lode,”
(obsolete, transitive)To rouse; to strip up.

“And seeks the tusky boar to rear.”
To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
(British, transitive, vulgar)To sodomize (perform anal sex)
(transitive)To move; stir.
(transitive)To carve.

“Rear that goose!”
(obsolete, regional)To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)

“He healeth the blind and he reareth to life the dead.”

adj

(not-comparable)Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost.

“the rear rank of a company”
“sit in the rear seats of a car”
(dialectal)(of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
(US)(of meats) Rare.

“Fred ordered a rear steak along with a glass of beer as he took a seat at an empty table”

adv

(British, dialectal, not-comparable)early; soon

“Then why does Cuddy leave his cot so rear!”

noun

The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.

“Nipt with the lagging rear of winters froſt.”
Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.

“When the fierce Foe hung on our brok'n Rear”
The buttocks or bottom.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan,…

See full etymology

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to lift oneself, rise”). Cognate with Scots rere (“to construct, build, rear”), Icelandic reisa (“to raise”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raisjan, “to cause to rise, lift up, establish”), German reisen (“to travel”, literally “to rear up and depart”); and a doublet of raise. More at rise. Related to rise and raise, which is used for several of its now archaic or obsolete senses and for some of its senses that are currently more common in other dialects of English.

Anagrams of rear

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play rare 4 points

ARRE 4 pts

Words you can make from rear

9 playable · top: RARE (4 pts)

Best play rare 4 points

3-letter words

4 words

2-letter words

4 words

Hooks

3 extensions · 1 front · 2 back

A single letter you can add to rear to make another valid word.

Front

DREAR 6 pts