English

Alternative forms

• reer, rere, rare

Verb

rear ‎(third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. (transitive) To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster (usually "raise" in US English).
   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Southerne

     He wants a father to protect his youth, and rear him up to virtue.

2. (transitive) To breed and raise; as, to rear cattle (cattle rearing). (Usually considered less correct than "raise" in U.S. English.)
3. (intransitive) To rise up on the hind legs, as a bolting horse.
4. (intransitive, usually with "up") To get angry.
5. (intransitive) To rise high above, tower above.
6. (transitive, literary) To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.

   Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)

   The monster slowly reared its head.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     In adoration at his feet I fell Submiss; he reared me.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Lord Lytton

     Mine [shall be] the first hand to rear her banner.

7. (transitive, rare) To construct by building; to set up

   to rear defenses or houses

   to rear one government on the ruins of another.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson

     One reared a font of stone.

8. (transitive, rare) To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Isaac Barrow

     It reareth our hearts from vain thoughts.

9. (transitive, obsolete) To lift and take up.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser

     And having her from Trompart lightly reared, Upon his set the lovely load.

10. (transitive, obsolete) To rouse; to strip up.
    • (Can we date this quote?), John Dryden

      And seeks the tusky boar to rear.

Usage notes

• It is standard US English to raise children, and this usage has become common in all kinds of English since the 1700s. Until fairly recently, however, US teachers taught the traditional rule that one should raise crops and animals, but rear children, despite the fact that this contradicted general usage. It is therefore not surprising that some people still prefer to rear children and that this is considered correct but formal in US English. It is widespread in UK English and not considered formal.

• It is generally considered incorrect to rear crops or (adult) animals in US English, but this expression is common in UK English.

Synonyms

• (rise up on the hind legs): prance

• build
• elevate
• erect
• establish
• lift
• raise

Derived terms

• raring

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English reren, from Old English hrēran ‎(“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną ‎(“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- ‎(“to mix, stir, cook”). Cognate with Dutch roeren ‎(“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren ‎(“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra ‎(“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra ‎(“to stir”).

Alternative forms

• reer, rere

Verb

rear ‎(third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. (transitive) To move; stir.
2. (transitive, of geese) To carve.

   Rere that goose!

3. (regional, obsolete) To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)

   He healeth the blind and he reareth to life the dead.‎ (Speculum Sacerdotale c. 15th century)

Usage notes

• In the third sense, the more common variant of to rear to life is to raise to life. “I pray you, Declan, servant of God, that in the name of Christ you would raise to life for me the seven hostages whom I held in bondage from the chieftains of Munster." (Life of Saint Declan of Ardmore By Saint Declan of Ardmore, Aeterna Press, 2015.)

Related terms

• reremouse
• uproar

References

• The Middle English Dictionary

Etymology 3

From Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre ‎(“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran ‎(“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną ‎(“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrā- ‎(“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr ‎(“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”), Dutch roeren ‎(“to stir, shake, whip”), German rühren ‎(“to stir, beat, move”), Swedish röra ‎(“to touch, move, stir”), Icelandic hræra ‎(“to stir”).

Alternative forms

• reer, rere
• rare (US)

Adjective

rear ‎(comparative rearer or more rear, superlative rearest or most rear)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
2. (chiefly US) (of meats) Rare.

Derived terms

• rear-boiled
• rear-roasted

Etymology 4

Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear.

Adjective

rear ‎(not comparable)

1. Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost; as, the rear rank of a company.

Antonyms

• front

Translations

Adverb

rear ‎(comparative more rear, superlative most rear)

1. (Britain, dialect) early; soon
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Gay.

     Then why does Cuddy leave his cot so rear!

Noun

rear ‎(plural rears)

1. The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last on order; - opposed to front.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     Nipped with the lagging rear of winter's frost.

2. (military) Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear.

3. (anatomy) The buttocks, a creature's bottom

Synonyms

• (buttocks): rear end

Translations

Verb

rear ‎(third-person singular simple present rears, present participle rearing, simple past and past participle reared)

1. To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
2. (transitive, vulgar, Britain) To sodomize (perform anal sex)

Derived terms

Anagrams

• rare

Latin

Verb

rear

1. first-person singular present active subjunctive of reor

Swedish

Verb

rear

1. present tense of rea.