Bear (irreg verb)
From Hull AWE
The basic meaning of the verb 'to bear' is 'to carry', with some refinements. See Bare - bear for some discussion, and for more of the past forms, see Born - borne. For a note on a homophone, see bare - bear. This page concentrates on the inflections.
'To bear' is an irregular verb. Its forms are given here:
| Base form | past tense | -ed participle | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| bear | bore | borne | 'She has borne six children' (but: 'She was born in 1955' also forbear, overbear |
- This is one of the "the 250 or so irregular verbs" listed in Quirk 1985. The list "contains most of the irregular verbs in present-day English ... but is not meant to be exhaustive, particularly with regard to derivative verbs." AWE has copied most of the entries in that list. The verb 'to bear' belongs to Quirk's Class 4 A b.
