bearing

bearing [ber′iŋ]

n.

1. way of carrying and conducting oneself; carriage; manner; mien

2. a support or supporting part

3.

a) the act, power, or period of producing young, fruit, etc.

b) ability to produce

c) anything borne or produced, as a crop, fruit, etc.

4. an enduring; endurance

5.

a) direction relative to one's own position or to the compass

b) [pl.] position, as of a ship, established by determining the bearing from it of several known points

c) [pl.] awareness or recognition of one's position or situation [to lose one's bearings]

6. relevant meaning; application; relation [the evidence had no bearing on the case]

7. Archit. the part of a lintel or beam that rests on supports

8. Heraldry any figure on the field; charge

9. Mech. any part of a machine in or on which another part revolves, slides, etc.

adj.

that bears, or supports, weight [a bearing wall]

SYN.- BEARING, in this comparison denoting manner of carrying or conducting oneself, refers to characteristic physical and mental posture; CARRIAGE, also applied to posture, specif. stresses the physical aspects of a person's bearing [an erect carriage]; DEMEANOR refers to behavior as expressing one's attitude or a specified personality trait [a demure demeanor]; MIEN, a literary word, refers to one's bearing and manner [a man of melancholy mien]; DEPORTMENT refers to one's behavior with reference to standards of conduct or social conventions; MANNER is applied to customary or distinctive attitude, actions, speech, etc. and, in the plural, refers to behavior conforming with polite conventions