rear.
To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
Meaning & usage
To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
To breed and raise.
The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.
To rise up on the hind legs.
The horse was shocked, and thus reared.
To get angry.
To rise high above, tower above.
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.
To construct by building; to set up
to rear defenses or houses
to rear one government on the ruins of another.
To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
To lift and take up.
To rouse; to strip up.
Where this word comes from
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.
Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost.
the rear rank of a company
sit in the rear seats of a car
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.
early; soon
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.
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.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.
To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
To sodomize (perform anal sex)
Where this word comes from
From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.
To move; stir.
To carve.
Rear that goose!
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.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English reren, from Old English hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“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”).
(of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
(of meats) Rare.
Where this word comes from
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 *ḱroHs- (“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”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.