TOP

Definition of rear verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

rear

verb
 
/rɪə(r)/
 
/rɪr/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they rear
 
/rɪə(r)/
 
/rɪr/
he / she / it rears
 
/rɪəz/
 
/rɪrz/
past simple reared
 
/rɪəd/
 
/rɪrd/
past participle reared
 
/rɪəd/
 
/rɪrd/
-ing form rearing
 
/ˈrɪərɪŋ/
 
/ˈrɪrɪŋ/
Idioms Phrasal Verbs
jump to other results
  1. [transitive] rear somebody/something [often passive] to care for young children or animals until they are fully grown synonym bring up, raise
    • She reared a family of five on her own.
    • Lions usually manage to rear about half the number of cubs born to them.
    Topics Life stagesc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • intensively
    • naturally
    • successfully
    See full entry
  2. [transitive] rear something to keep and breed (= produce young from) animals or birds, for example on a farm
    • to rear cattle
    Extra Examples
    • intensively reared beef cattle
    • naturally reared pork and beef
    • The young crocodiles were reared indoors at a constant temperature of 32°C.
    Topics Farmingc2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • intensively
    • naturally
    • successfully
    See full entry
  3. [intransitive] rear (up) (of an animal, especially a horse) to raise itself on its back legs, with the front legs in the air
    • The horse reared, throwing its rider.
  4. [intransitive] rear (up) (of something large) to seem to lean over you, especially in a way that makes you feel frightened
    • The great bulk of the building reared up against the night sky.
  5. Word Originverb Old English rǣran ‘set upright, construct, elevate’, of Germanic origin; related to raise (which has supplanted rear in many applications), also to rise.
Idioms
something rears its (ugly) head
  1. if something unpleasant rears its head or rears its ugly head, it appears or happens
See rear in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee rear in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
trait
noun
 
 
From the Word list
Oxford 5000
B2
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day