bare

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɛə(ɹ)/, /bɛː(ɹ)/, enPR: bâr
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɛɚ/, enPR: bâr

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophone: bear

From Middle English bare, bar, from Old English bær (“bare, naked, open”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz (“bare, naked”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰos-o-s, from *bʰos- (“bare, barefoot”). Cognate with Scots bare, bair (“bare”), Saterland Frisian bar (“bare”), West Frisian baar (“bare”), Dutch baar (“bare”), German bar (“bare”), Swedish bar (“bare”), Icelandic ber (“bare”), Lithuanian basas (“barefoot, bare”), Polish bosy (“barefoot”).

bare (comparative barer, superlative barest)

1. Minimal; that is or are just sufficient.

   a bare majority

   • (Can we date this quote?) Addison

     the bare necessaries of life

2. Naked, uncovered.

   I do wonder why keeping my little breasts bare can be lewd even as none tells my brother anything for being bare-chested.

3. Having no supplies.

   a room bare of furniture

   The cupboard was bare.

   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.

4. Having no decoration.

   The walls of this room are bare — why not hang some paintings on them?

5. Having had what usually covers (something) removed.

   The trees were left bare after the swarm of locusts devoured all the leaves.

6. (MLE, Toronto, not comparable) A lot or lots of.

   It's bare money to get in the club each time, man.

7. With head uncovered; bareheaded.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Herbert

     When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.

8. Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear!

9. (figuratively) Mere; without embellishment.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay

     Those who lent him money lent it on no security but his bare word.

10. Threadbare, very worn.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

      It appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare words.

• (minimal): mere, minimal
• (without a condom): Thesaurus:condomless
• (naked): exposed, naked, nude, uncovered, undressed
• (having no supplies): empty, unfurnished, unstocked, unsupplied
• (having no decoration): empty, plain, unadorned, undecorated
• (having had what usually covers (something) removed): despoiled, stripped, uncovered

• (minimal): ample, plentiful, sufficient
• (naked): covered, covered up, dressed, unexposed
• (having no supplies): full, furnished, stocked, supplied, well-stocked
• (having no decoration): adorned, decorated, ornate
• (having had what usually covers (something) removed): covered

bare

1. (Britain, slang) Very; significantly.

   That pissed me off bare.

   It's taking bare time.

2. Barely.
   • 2009, Allan Cole; Chris Bunch, The Wars of the Shannons:

     He finally came back to himself and asked why the furor. "Why," Lucy said, "because this is Christmas Eve. We have bare enough time to get ready for the ball, after dinner, as it is."

   • 2011, Elizabeth Vaughan, Warprize:

     “I've bare enough for these two, much less fill your belly.”

3. Without a condom.
   • 2000, Northeast African Studies - Volume 7, page 119:

     While none of the participants had complete confidence in condoms, they continued to use them as a better alternative than “going in bare".

   • 2002, The Society of Malawi Journal - Volumes 55-58, page 70:

     It would be fine to have these women bare, without condoms.

   • 2010, M. L. Matthews, I Am Not the Father: Narratives of Men Falsely Accused of Paternity, →ISBN:

     I like to go bare. I don't like wearing condoms, actually I hate 'em.

bare (plural bares)

1. (‘the bare’) The surface, the (bare) skin.
   • 1599, John Marston, Antonio and Mellida

     In sad good earnest, sir, you have toucht the very bare of naked truth [...]

   • 2002, Darren Shan, Hunters of the dusk: 7:

     Vancha clasped the bare of my neck and squeezed amiably.

2. Surface; body; substance.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Marston

     You have touched the very bare of naked truth.

3. (architecture) That part of a roofing slate, shingle, tile, or metal plate, which is exposed to the weather.

From Middle English baren, from Old English barian, from Proto-Germanic *bazōną (“to bare, make bare”).

bare (third-person singular simple present bares, present participle baring, simple past and past participle bared)

1. (transitive) To uncover; to reveal.

   She bared her teeth at him.

The verb should not be confused with the verb bear.

• (uncover): expose, lay bare, reveal, show, uncover

• (uncover): cover, cover up, hide

Inflected forms.

bare

1. (obsolete) simple past tense of bear
   • (Can we date this quote?) Bible, Josh. iii. 15

     The feet of the priest that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 5

     And so I put thee on my shoulder and bare thee back, and here thou art in David's room, and shalt find board and bed with me as long as thou hast mind to

• bare in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• bare in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• Aber, Bear, Brea, Reba, bear, brae, rabe

bare

1. calm

bare

1. slug
2. spleen

• IPA^(key): /ˈbarɛ/

bare

1. vocative singular of bar

• IPA^(key): /barə/, [ˈb̥ɑːɑ]

bare

1. just
2. simply
3. only, merely

bare

1. I wish, I hope, if only
   • 1979, Tove Ditlevsen, Vi har kun hinanden: To som elsker hinanden (→ISBN)

     Bare vi var alene.

     I wish we were alone.

   • 2014, Pernille Eybye, Blodets bånd #1: Blodsøstre, Tellerup A/S (→ISBN)

     „Bare jeg kunne blive hele natten," fortsatte han.

     "If only I could stay all night", he continued.

   • 2013, Lyngby-Taarbæk Bibliotekerne, Tanker om tid: 15 udvalgte noveller, BoD – Books on Demand (→ISBN), page 43

     Bare jeg kunne spole tiden tilbage.

     If only I could turn back time.

• gid, om, hvis bare, kun

bare

1. definite and plural of bar

• Audio

  (file)

bare

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of baren

• Rhymes: -are

bare f

1. plural of bara

• erba

bare m

1. locative singular of baras
2. vocative singular of baras

bare

1. best

From Old Dutch *bāra, from Proto-Germanic *bērō.

bâre f

1. bier, stretcher

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: baar

• “bare (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “bare (IV)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

bare

1. (Northern) Alternative form of bor

bare

1. definite singular of bar
2. plural form of bar

bare

1. only, merely, just
2. but

bare

1. if; as long as

• berre (Nynorsk)

• “bare” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

bare

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by berre

bare

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of bar.