bears 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.
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

See all 7 meanings of bear down