Word.ws English Dictionary

bearwards

bearwards is the plural of bearward.

Meaning of bearward

Noun

bearward (plural bearwards)

  1. (UK, historical) Someone who handles and keeps bears (and sometimes other animals such as apes and bulls), especially for use in public entertainments such as baiting or dancing displays; a bearherd.
    • But now how many men are there proude of that that is not theyrs at al? Is there no man proude of keping another mannes gate? […] [W]hat a brag-kyng maketh a beareward wͭ [with] his ſyluer buttened bawdrike, for pride of another mannes bere?1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]. The Fyrst Poynt, the Fall of Aungelles.”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam...
    Synonyms:
    bearleader, bear warden

Questions about bearwards

What is bearwards the plural of?
Bearwards is the plural of bearward.

Words near bearwards in the dictionary

  1. beartrap gate
  2. beartrap gates
  3. beartraps
  4. Bearville
  5. bearward
  6. bearwards
  7. Bearwish
  8. Bearwood
  9. bearwort
  10. beary
  11. Bearys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bearwards (page history and authors); bearward (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: “bearwards.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bearwards. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.