The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bare \Bare\ (b[^a]r), a. [OE. bar, bare, AS. b[ae]r; akin to D. & G. baar, OHG. par, Icel. berr, Sw. & Dan. bar, Oslav. bos[u^] barefoot, Lith. basas; cf. Skr. bh[=a]s to shine.
Without clothes or covering; stripped of the usual covering; naked; as, his body is bare; the trees are bare.
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With head uncovered; bareheaded.
When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.
--Herbert. -
Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed.
Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear !
--Milton. Plain; simple; unadorned; without polish; bald; meager. ``Uttering bare truth.''
--Shak.Destitute; indigent; empty; unfurnished or scantily furnished; -- used with of (rarely with in) before the thing wanting or taken away; as, a room bare of furniture. ``A bare treasury.''
--Dryden.-
Threadbare; much worn.
It appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare words.
--Shak. -
Mere; alone; unaccompanied by anything else; as, a bare majority. ``The bare necessaries of life.''
--Addison.Nor are men prevailed upon by bare words.
--South.Under bare poles (Naut.), having no sail set.
Usage examples of "under bare poles".
He could see nothing steadily, but out there the waves would be running twenty feet high, high enough to shelter any ship trying to ride out a storm under bare poles.
The shift of wind, which had been to the west-north-west, compelled them to alter the course of the vessel, for they had no chance but to scud, as they now did, under bare poles.
Forty-eight hours later, after a storm which drove us far to sea under bare poles, we came once more in sight of land, and were boarded by a pilot, who, after three hours of dangerous navigation, brought the schooner safely to an anchor in the bay of Faxa before Reykjavik.
The ship went through the bridge, moving under bare poles like a ghost in broad day, with three gulls hovering above the stern like toys on invisible wires.
If the wind pipes up any more, I reckon we'll be going too fast even under bare poles.
While the sloop wallowed under bare poles, he helped Korendir slot rowlocks into her toerail and benches to the cockpit lockers.
The crew were furling the sails, and soon the schooner lay under bare poles, her dark green hull lost against the kelp and the shoreline.
If the sea anchor went - or when it went - there would then be nothing to be done but to come to the helm and steer the ship, running under bare poles before the storm towards the islands.
There was no actual downright mutiny, just disapproving looks and shaking heads, and I was told it was felt the barky should sail sweet, this being the little maid's first trip: though I must say I do not think she would turn a hair if we were scudding under bare poles, in danger of being pooped every other minute.
His ship had been scudding under bare poles, taking the seas heavily, the day sky and horizon obliterated by the sheets of water the Supreme Winds clawed from the ocean and hurled before them.