Word.ws English Dictionary

bearer

Syllables: bear·er/ˈbɛɹɚ//ˈbɛəɹə/

bearer noun: one who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries.

Noun

bearer (plural bearers)

  1. One who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries.
    • And he [Solomon] set threescore and ten thousand of them [the foreigners living in Israel] to be bearers of burdens,1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 2:18
    • Forgive the Bearer of unhappy news:
      Your alter’d Father openly pursues
      Your ruine;1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act II, page 29
    Synonyms:
    carrier, -phore
  2. Someone who helps carry the coffin or a dead body during a funeral procession.
    • Nay, quoth he, on his swooning bed outstretch’d,
      If I may not carry, sure Ile ne’re be fetch’d,
      But vow though the cross Doctors all stood hearers,
      For one Carrier put down to make six bearers.1645, John Milton, “Another on the same”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin, London: Humphrey Moseley, page 29
    • […] the bare coffin having been screwed down, was hoisted on the shoulders of the bearers, and carried into the street.1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    pallbearer
  3. One who possesses a cheque, bond, or other notes promising payment.
    • I promise to pay the bearer on demand.
  4. A person employed or engaged to carry equipment on a safari, expedition, etc.
  5. A person employed to carry a palanquin or litter.
    • Within an hour of our finally deciding to start five litters were brought up to the door of the cave, each accompanied by four regular bearers and two spare hands, also a band of about fifty armed Amahagger, who were to form the escort and carry the baggage.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
  6. (India, dated) A domestic servant in charge of household goods and clothing; a valet.
    • The bar of the watch-guard worked through the buttonhole, and the watch—Platte's watch—slid quietly on to the carpet; where the bearer found it next morning and kept it.1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Watches of the Night”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio, published 2005, page 60
    Synonyms:
    dressing-boy
  7. (India) A waiter in a hotel or restaurant.
  8. A tree or plant yielding fruit.
    • a good bearer
    • In the common mode of pruning, this species of vine is no great bearer; but managed as it is here, it produces wonderfully.1791, William Gilpin, Remarks on Forest Scenery: and Other Woodland Views, London: R. Blamire, Volume 1, Book 1, Section 6, p. 149
  9. (dated) Someone who delivers a letter or message on behalf of another (especially as referred to in the letter or message).
    • […] Wilt thou know
      Th’ effect of what I wrote? […]
      An earnest conjuration from the King,
      As England was his faithful tributary, […]
      That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
      Without debatement further, more or less,
      He should the bearers put to sudden death,c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • P. S. If you’d send your pipes by the Bearer[…], I would put them in order, and play some Melancholy tunes, […]1754 September 25, Ja[me]s [Mor] MacGregor, “[Letter from James Macgregor, on his arrival at Paris the week before he died, October, 1754]”, in K[enneth] Macleay, Historical Memoirs of Rob Roy and...
  10. A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page.
  11. A type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.

Proper noun capitalized: Bearer

Bearer (plural Bearers)

  1. A surname originating as an occupation.

bearer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bearer in Hindi

one who bears
वाहक vāhak, धारणकर्ता dhāraṇkartā, धारक dhārak
possessor of a cheque, bond, etc.
वाहक vāhak

bearer in Tamil

எடுத்துச் செல்பவர், கொணர்பவர், தாங்குநர், பணியாளர், பணியாள், எடுத்துச்செல்வது

bearer in Marathi

bearer, carrier
वाहक vāhak

bearer in Urdu

حامل
More languagesFewer languages
bearer in Bengali
বাহক, ধারণকারী, সংবাদ, চেক বহনকারী ব্যক্তি
bearer in Telugu
మోసుకెళ్లేవాడు, బేరర్, మోసుకెళ్ళేవాడు
bearer in Malayalam
വാഹകൻ
bearer in Kannada
ವಾಹಕ, ಕಛೇರಿಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದಂತಹ ಪತ್ರ ವಾಹಕ, ಧಾರಕ, ಧುರಂಧರ
bearer in Odia
ବହନକାରୀ
bearer in Sanskrit
भर्तृ bhartṛ́, वाह vāhá, धर्तृ dhartṛ́, धर्मन् dharmán

Examples of bearer in a sentence

  • The slightest manifestation of sympathy or justice toward a person of color, was denounced as abolitionism; and the name of abolitionist, subjected its bearer to frightful liabilities.1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:
  • The deep shadows of the porch swallowed up priest, corpse and bearers […]1934, Dorothy L. Sayers, “A Full Peal of Grandsire Triples”, in The Nine Tailors, London: Victor Gollancz, published 1975, Part 3:
  • The message was brought, and Winterborne sent the bearer back to say that he begged the lady’s pardon, but that he could not do as she requested;1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter XIII, in The Woodlanders […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published...

All 37 example sentences with bearer

Synonyms of bearer

Forms of bearer

Noun
pluralbearers
Proper noun
pluralBearers

Plural of bearer: bearers

Origin of bearer

From Middle English berer, berere, from Old English berere (attested in Old English wæterberere (“waterbearer”)), equivalent to bear + -er.

Possibly an occupational surname for a carrier or porter, from Middle English berere, but no evidence has been found that this surname became hereditary. Alternatively, it could be a variant of other surnames, such as Berrier, Berrow, or Berard.

Words formed from bearer

Phrases with bearer

Words that rhyme with bearer

Questions about bearer

What does bearer mean?
Bearer means one who, or that which, bears, sustains, or carries.
What is bearer in Hindi?
Bearer in Hindi is वाहक (vāhak), धारणकर्ता (dhāraṇkartā), धारक (dhārak). See Bearer meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bearer in a sentence?
The slightest manifestation of sympathy or justice toward a person of color, was denounced as abolitionism; and the name of abolitionist, subjected its bearer to frightful liabilities.
What part of speech is bearer?
Bearer can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bearer?
Bearer is pronounced /ˈbɛəɹə/ (UK).
What is the plural of bearer?
The plural of bearer is bearers.

Words near bearer in the dictionary

  1. beardy
  2. beare
  3. Beare-Stevenson cutis gyrata syndrome
  4. beared
  5. bearen
  6. bearer
  7. bearer bond
  8. bearer bonds
  9. Bearer English
  10. bearer note
  11. bearer of bad news

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bearer (page history and authors); Bearer (page history and authors); bearer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); वाहक (Marathi) (page history and authors); bearer (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bearer (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bearer (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bearer (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bearer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bearer (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); धर्तृ (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “bearer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bearer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.