Wear | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Weâr (4), v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. WŌRE; p. p. WORN; p. pr. & vb. n. WEARING.] [A-S. werian, werigean, weran, to carry, to wear, as arms or clothes, O. H. Ger. werjan, werihan, to clothe, Goth. wasjan, id.] 1. To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one, as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, or the like; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to wear a coat or a robe; to wear a sword; to wear a crown. Will you wear your farthingale? Shak. And on her breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss and infidels adore. Pope.

To have or exhibit an appearance of; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance.
To use up by carrying or having upon one; hence, to consume by use; to waste; to use up; to consume; as, to wear clothes rapidly.
To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, and the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend; to use up.

The waters wear the stones. Job xiv. 19. That wicked wight his days doth wear. Spenser.

To cause or occasion by friction or wasting; as, to wear a channel; to wear a hole.
To affect by degrees; to bring about gradually.

Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us. Locke. 7. [Cf. WARE.] (Naut.) To put on another tack, as a ship, by turning her round, with the stern toward the wind; to veer. To wear away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy, by gradual attrition or decay. — To wear off, to diminish or remove by attrition or slow decay; as, to wear off the nap of cloth. — To wear out. (a.) To consume or render useless by attrition or decay; as, to wear out a coat or a book. (b.) To consume tediously. “To wear out miserable days.” Shak. (c.) To harass; to tire. “He shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” Dan. vii. 25. (d.) To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in the service of his country. — To wear the breeches, to assume or usurp the authority or prerogatives of the husband; to domineer over the husband; — said of a wife. [Colloq. and low.]

Wear, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To endure or suffer use; to last under employment; to bear the consequences of use, as waste, consumption, or attrition; as, a coat wears well, or ill;—hence, sometimes applied to character, qualifications, and the like; as, a man wears well as an acquaintance. 2. To be wasted, consumed, or diminished, by being used; to suffer injury by use or time. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people. Exod. xviii. 18. Away, I say; time wears. Shak. His stock of money began to wear very low. W. Scott. 3. To be consumed by slow degrees; to be tediously spent. Thus wore out night. Milton. To wear off, to pass away by degrees; as, the follies of youth wear off with age.—To wear weary, to become weary, as by wear, long occupation, tedious employment, or the like.

Weâr, n.

noun

n. 1. The act of wearing, or the state of being worn; consumption by use; diminution by friction; as, the wear of a garment.

Sense 2. The thing worn; style of dress; the fashion.

Motley's your only wear. Shak.

Wear and tear, the loss by wearing, as of machinery in use; the loss or injury to which any thing is subject by use, accident, and the like.

Wēar, n.

noun

(Synop., § 130), n. [A-S. wær, wēr, an inclosure, a fish-pond, the sea, a wave, from warian, warian, werian, to defend, protect; Icel. ver, L. Ger. ware, O. H. Ger. wari, weri, M. H. Ger. wer, N. H. Ger. wehr.] [Written also weir and wier].

A dam in a river to stop and raise the water, for conducting it to a mill, for taking fish, and the like.
A fence of stakes or twigs set in a stream for catching fish.