bear down


verb(intr, adverb; often foll by on or upon)
  1. to press or weigh down

  2. to approach in a determined or threatening manner

  1. (of a vessel) to make an approach (to another vessel, obstacle, etc) from windward

  2. (of a woman during childbirth) to exert a voluntary muscular pressure to assist delivery

Words Nearby bear down

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use bear down in a sentence

  • Signal was made to bear down upon the enemy in two lines; and the fleet set all sail.

  • Animating his followers by his voice, and his own example, Hawkeye then gave the word to bear down upon their foes.

    The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper
  • The great will inclosed in his little body seemed to bear down hard upon her so as really to hurt.

    The Incendiary | W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy

Other Idioms and Phrases with bear down

bear down

Press or weigh down on someone or something. For example, This pen doesn't write unless you bear down hard on it. [Late 1600s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.