bear down

Verb

bear down (third-person singular simple present bears down, present participle bearing down, simple past bore down, past participle borne down)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bear, down.
2. To steer away from the wind; to approach from windward.
3. (transitive) To push (someone) to the ground; to defeat, overcome.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To maintain one's position against (someone) in a debate; to stand one's ground against.
   • And they sayd unto her: thou arte mad. And she bare them doune that hit was even so.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts
5. (intransitive) To intensify one's efforts.
   • It's 9:41, 58 degrees, and I'm flunking out. Time to bear down.
   • When Furyk spots another Arizona alum on Tour, one of them will utter the official U of A exhortation, which dates to the 1920s, when on his deathbed the school's quarter-back urged the football team to "bear down." Few on Tour bear down like Furyk. He has his plan and sticks to it.2003 October, Cameron Morfit, “A Furious Focus; Call his swing whatever you want--Jim Furyk's approach to life and golf is anything but loopy”, in Golf Magazine, volume 45, number 10, page 106
6. (intransitive, with-on) To approach in a determined manner.
   • Huth headed wide inside two minutes, Andy Wilkinson blasted over from Shotton's cut-back and Jones was squeezed out when bearing down on goal.2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport
7. (intransitive) To exert downward pressure on one's abdomen, as in giving birth, forcing out feces, and some similar bodily maneuvers.