Definition of REAR

rear

Plural: rears

Noun

  • the back of a military formation or procession
    • "infantrymen were in the rear"
  • the side of an object that is opposite its front
    • "his room was toward the rear of the hotel"
  • the part of something that is furthest from the normal viewer
    • "it was hidden in the rear of the store"
  • the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
  • the side that goes last or is not normally seen
  • The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.
  • Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
  • The buttocks or bottom.

Verb

Verb Forms: reared, rearing, rears

  • To raise something upright; to bring up or nurture.
  • stand up on the hind legs, of quadrupeds
    • "The horse reared in terror"
  • bring up
  • rise up
  • cause to rise up
  • construct, build, or erect
  • To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
  • To breed and raise.
  • To rise up on the hind legs.
  • To get angry.
  • To rise high above, tower above.
  • To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
  • To construct by building; to set up
  • To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
  • To lift and take up.
  • To rouse; to strip up.
  • To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
  • To sodomize (perform anal sex)
  • To move; stir.
  • To carve.
  • To revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)

Adjective Satellite

  • located in or toward the back or rear
    • "the chair's rear legs"
    • "the rear door of the plane"
    • "on the rearward side"

Adj

  • Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost
  • (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
  • (of meats) Rare.

Adv

  • early; soon

Examples

  • He healeth the blind and he reareth to life the dead.
  • My opponent’s eyes seemed to REAR in surprise when I played ’QUIXOTIC’ for a bingo.
  • Rear that goose!
  • sit in the rear seats of a car
  • The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.
  • The horse was shocked, and thus reared.
  • the rear rank of a company

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to lift oneself, rise”).
Cognate with Scots rere (“to construct, build, rear”), Icelandic reisa (“to raise”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raisjan, “to cause to rise, lift up, establish”), German reisen (“to travel”, literally “to rear up and depart”); and a doublet of raise. More at rise.
Related to rise and raise, which is used for several of its now archaic or obsolete senses and for some of its senses that are currently more common in other dialects of English.

Synonyms

arse, ass, back, back end, backside, behind, bottom, bring up, bum, buns, butt, buttocks, can, derriere, erect, fanny, fundament, hind end, hindquarters, keister, lift, nates, nurture, parent, posterior, prat, put up, raise, rear end, rearward, rise, rise up, rump, seat, set up, stern, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush, prance

Antonyms

front, head, level

Scrabble Score: 4

rear: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
rear: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
rear: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 4

rear: valid Words With Friends Word