bearward

English

Etymology

From Middle English bereward (“someone who handles and keeps bears, bear keeper”),[1] from ber, bere (“bear”)[2] + ward, warde (“care, keeping”).[3] By surface analysis, bear +‎ ward.[4]

Pronunciation

Noun

bearward (plural bearwards)

  1. (chiefly UK, historical) Someone who handles and keeps bears (and sometimes other animals such as apes and bulls), especially for use in public entertainments such as baiting or dancing displays; a bearherd.
    Synonyms: (bears only) bearleader, bear warden
    • 1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]. The Fyrst Poynt, the Fall of Aungelles.”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1272, column 2:
      But now how many men are there proude of that that is not theyrs at al? Is there no man proude of keping another mannes gate? […] [W]hat a brag-kyng maketh a beareward wͭ [with] his ſyluer buttened bawdrike, for pride of another mannes bere?
    • 1887, Charles James Ribton-Turner, A History of Vagrants and Vagrancy, and Beggars and Begging:
      The former prohibition against bearwards is omitted iii this Act, probably because it had proved futile for the purpose intended, as a writer in "Notes and Queries," speaking of this period, says:– "I was never a witness of a bear-bait, but I well remember a poor brute who was kept alive for this sole purpose, at F——, in Lancashire. […]"
    • 2007, Lawrence M. Clopper, Elizabeth Baldwin, David Mills, Cheshire including Chester, page lxxv:
      Congleton had a reputation for bearbaiting and went to some lengths to protect it, sending messengers to Knutsford and Bunbury to ensure that the bearwards got to the Congleton bearbait […]

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “bēr(e-wā̆rd(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “bēr(e, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “ward(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “bearward, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “bearward, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

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