bears

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of bear.

   Grizzly bears can weigh more than six hundred pounds.

   The reserve protects black bears and several other native species.

   Note

   An ordinary -s plural, even though the verb spelled the same way has an irregular past. It covers every countable use of the noun: the animals, rough and uncouth people, investors betting on falling prices, and, in slang, large hairy men and, in the US, state police. The meat takes no plural, so a menu offers bear, not bears.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of bear.

   The old bridge still bears the heavy traffic of the morning commute.

   Her account bears little resemblance to what the witnesses described.

   Note

   The form a single third-person subject takes: the bridge bears, she bears, the document bears. Every other present-tense subject uses bear, and the past runs bore, with borne or born as participle. Much of its everyday work is figurative carrying: a page bears a mark, an account bears little resemblance to the facts. In finance it means working to push prices down.

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