rear

Use Rear in a sentence

noun

the back of something, as distinguished from the front: The porch is at the rear of the house.

the space or position behind something: The bus driver asked the passengers to move to the rear.

the buttocks; rump.

the hindmost portion of an army, fleet, etc.

adjective

pertaining to or situated at the rear of something: the rear door of a bus.

00:10

Rear is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Idioms

bring up the rear, to be at the end; follow behind: The army retreated, and the fleeing civilian population brought up the rear.

Origin:
1590–1600; aphetic variant of arrear

Synonyms
5. See back¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to take care of and support up to maturity: to rear a child.

to breed and raise (livestock).

to raise by building; erect.

to raise to an upright position: to rear a ladder.

to lift or hold up; elevate; raise.

verb (used without object)

to rise on the hind legs, as a horse or other animal.

(of a person) to start up in angry excitement, hot resentment, or the like (usually followed by up ).

to rise high or tower aloft: The skyscraper rears high over the neighboring buildings.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English reren, Old English rǣran to raise; cognate with Gothic -raisjan, Old Norse reisa

Related forms

un·reared, adjective

well-reared, adjective

Synonyms
1. nurture, raise. 3. construct. 5. loft.

Usage note
1. See raise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To rear

Collins

World English Dictionary

rear¹ (rɪə)

—n
1.	the back or hind part
2.	the area or position that lies at the back: a garden at the rear of the house
3.	the section of a military force or procession farthest from the front
4.	See buttock the buttocks
5.	bring up the rear to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
6.	in the rear at the back
7.	(modifier) of or in the rear: the rear legs; the rear side

[C17: probably abstracted from rearward or rearguard]

rear² (rɪə)

—vb (often foll by up)
1.	(tr) to care for and educate (children) until maturity; bring up; raise
2.	(tr) to breed (animals) or grow (plants)
3.	(tr) to place or lift (a ladder, etc) upright
4.	(tr) to erect (a monument, building, etc); put up
5.	(esp of horses) to lift the front legs in the air and stand nearly upright
6.	(intr; often foll by up or over) (esp of tall buildings) to rise high; tower
7.	(intr) to start with anger, resentment, etc

[Old English rǣran; related to Old High German rēren to distribute, Old Norse reisa to raise]

'rearer²

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

rear

"hindmost part," c.1600, abstracted from rerewarde "rear guard" (c.1300), from Anglo-Fr. rerewarde, O.Fr. rieregarde, from O.Fr. riere (from L. retro "back, behind") + O.Fr. garde (see guard). Or the word may be an aphetic form of arrear (see

arrears). Military sense of "hindmost part" of an army or fleet is recorded from 1606. As a euphemism for "buttocks" it is attested from 1796 (rear end in this sense recorded from 1937). Rear admiral is first attested 1587, apparently so called from ranking "behind" an admiral proper. Rear-view (mirror) is recorded from 1926.

rear

O.E. ræran "to raise, build up, set on end," from P.Gmc. *raizijanau "to raise," causative of *risanan "to rise" (see raise). Meaning "bring into being, bring up" (as a child) is recorded from c.1420; that of "raise up on the hind legs" is first recorded late 14c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

Slang Dictionary

rear (end) definition

n.
the tail end; the buttocks. (Euphemistic.) : The dog bit her in the rear end.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

rear

In addition to the idioms beginning with rear, also see bring up the rear.