bearleader

See also: bear-leader and bear leader

English

WOTD – 18 March 2025

Etymology

From bear +‎ leader.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəˌliːdə/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛəɹˌlidəɹ/
Hyphenation: bear‧lead‧er

Noun

bearleader (plural bearleaders)

(chiefly historical) Someone who handles and keeps bears, especially for use in public entertainments such as bearbaiting or dancing displays; a bearward. [from 16th c.]
Synonyms: (UK, archaic, historical) bearherd, bear warden
(by extension, historical)
1. Someone acting as a chaperone and tutor to a wealthy young man travelling abroad, especially in Europe. [from 18th c.]
  - 1792, Charlotte Smith, “Letter II. To Mr. Desmond.”, in Desmond. […], volume I, London: […] G[eorge,] G[eorge,] J[ohn] and J[ames] Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 13:
    So!—you have really undertaken the delightful office of bear-leader—becauſe the brother of your Geraldine cannot take care of himſelf— […]
  - 1846 February 28 – 1847 February 27, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “On Some Respectable Snobs”, in The Book of Snobs, London: Punch Office, […], published 1848, →OCLC, pages 29-30:
    They pounced upon the stray nobility, and seized young lords travelling with their bear leaders.
  - 1941, Ngaio Marsh, “Project”, in Death and the Dancing Footman, [London]: Fontana Books, William Collins Sons & Co, published September 1976, →ISBN, part 1, page 17:
    […] Nick, if you please, was pronounced delicate, and led a series of tutors a fine dance until his mother decided he was old enough for the Grand Tour and sent him off with a bear-leader like some young regency lordling.
  - 1992, Jeremy Black, “Routes and Destinations”, in The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, published 2003, →ISBN, page 38:
    In 1775 Lord Herbert [George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke] toured Switzerland with his bearleader William Coxe (1747–1828).
2. (humorous, obsolete, rare) A captor; also, a guard, a jailer. [late 18th c.]
  - 1794, William Godwin, chapter VI, in Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams. […], volume III, London: […] B. Crosby, […], →OCLC, page 114:
    My bear-leaders were considerably surprised with my firmness, but seemed to think it beneath them to contest with me the principles I delivered. […] They left me abruptly; having first ordered an old man, the father of the landlady, to stay in the room with me while they were absent.