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wear
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
wear
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an effect wears off (=gradually stops)
▪ The effect of the anaesthetic was beginning to wear off.
comfortable to wear/use/ride etc
▪ My bike isn’t very comfortable to ride.
evening wear/dress (=formal clothes that people wear to social events in the evening)
▪ a shop specializing in glamorous evening wear
sb's patience is wearing thin (=they are becoming angry)
▪ People's patience is wearing thin as the queues for visas get longer.
the excitement wears off (=it gradually becomes less)
▪ The initial excitement of my new job was starting to wear off.
the night wears on (=continues)
▪ The pain gradually got better as the night wore on.
the novelty wears off (=something stops seeming new and interesting)
▪ Once the novelty had worn off he didn't play with his train set much.
threadbare/worn (=very thin and in bad condition)
▪ It was a dingy room with a threadbare carpet.
wear a cap
▪ He was wearing a baseball cap.
wear a coat
▪ He was wearing a long coat.
wear a nappy
▪ She doesn't wear nappies anymore; she's toilet trained.
wear a ring
▪ He wore a gold ring on his right hand.
wear a smile (=have a smile on your face)
▪ She wore a self-confident smile.
wear a watch
▪ He wore a gold watch.
wear an expression
▪ Their pilot wore an expression of extreme relief.
wear clothes
▪ She always wears beautiful clothes.
wear earrings
▪ She was wearing gold earrings and a diamond necklace.
wear glasses
▪ I didn’t know you wore glasses.
wear gloves
▪ Always wear gloves when gardening.
wear make-up
▪ They’re not allowed to wear make-up to school.
wear perfume
▪ What's that perfume you are wearing?
wear shoes
▪ He was wearing smart black shoes.
wear socks
▪ He always wore red socks.
wear your hair long/in a ponytail etc (=have that style of hair)
▪ He wore his hair in a ponytail.
wear...brace
▪ She had to wear a brace after the accident.
wearing masks
▪ He was attacked and robbed by two people wearing masks.
What Not to Wear
wore heels
▪ Whenever she wore heels she was taller than the men she worked with.
worn out
▪ You must be absolutely worn out.
worn smooth
▪ The stone steps had been worn smooth.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
▪ If you remember, the girl said they always wore leather gloves.
▪ He was always wearing a suit though.
▪ She had lots of rings, on both hands, and she always wore overalls.
▪ Patinkin always wears a casual black ensemble when he sings.
▪ Leonard Nimoy always wears his lucky woolly hat on set. 20.
▪ He was six feet two, kept fit by riding daily in Central Park, and always wore jodhpurs to work.
▪ A small, happy man with a white beard, he always wore the traditional grocers' apron.
▪ They appeared with starlets at cabarets, guested on game shows and even flirted with politics, always wearing their masks.
never
▪ Needless to say, I never wore the hat and it eventually went into one of my charity bags.
▪ Which is not to say that I never wore them.
▪ I never wore anything that hugged my body.
▪ He never wore it again after that first week, but his secretary kept it for three decades.
▪ He never wore swirling capes or giant fedoras.
▪ That day the dashing young man unbuckled his sword and never wore one again.
▪ She would never wear rubber unless she became incontinent or was taking a course in scuba diving for women.
▪ Or giving lacy, uncomfortably fashionable underthings she will never wear.
still
▪ It still wore its fire-engine red livery.
▪ No, he was still wearing it.
▪ She still wears them in class, closing her left eye to bring the blackboard into focus.
▪ He still wore his tartan cap.
▪ Edusha ate her breakfast still wearing her bathrobe and her slippers.
▪ Urquhart had come straight from the office and was still wearing a grey suit with a red tie.
▪ I still wear my Nixon mask on Halloween.
■ NOUN
belt
▪ At the time of the accident the plaintiff was not wearing a seat belt.
▪ And, she does not force her children to wear seat belts.
▪ His injuries were worse than they would have been if he had been wearing a seat belt.
▪ If the plaintiff was thrown forwards and injured, then clearly failure to wear a seat belt is contributory negligence.
▪ It could be worn with the sword belt on the outside; and the either the forage or the field headgear.
▪ Heavier passengers will cause greater injury to others in an accident if they are not wearing a seat belt.
▪ The plaintiff scaffolder was injured when he fell and was not wearing a safety belt.
cap
▪ One man, wearing a red cap and with a knife in his mouth, was already on top of the fence.
▪ Police released a composite sketch of him Saturday; in the picture, he is wearing a knit cap.
▪ He was wearing a peaked cap of brown leather and a long black overcoat.
▪ He wore a soft cap of the sort one wears in summer.
▪ The man sitting next to her grandmother wore the distinctive sharp-peaked cap of the Gestapo and Peach froze with horror.
▪ He wore a blue baseball cap backward and a gold hoop in his left ear.
▪ He is wearing a tweed cap and an ancient blue trenchcoat.
▪ The bushes wore thick caps of snow.
clothes
▪ I don't remember the clothes you wore, or your beautiful hair, or the sardines, or the mouth organ.
▪ I owned the clothes I wore and $ 20.
▪ What I do like about her is her confidence, the way she wears outrageous clothes.
▪ Q: Do you like the clothes you wear on the show?
▪ Tim noticed that they looked shabby, their clothes were worn at the edges, the collars dull and frayed.
▪ They were all in the clothes traditionally worn when people are going to Testify.
▪ I am wearing overalls and a striped pullover I hate because it reminds me of the clothes men wear on chain gangs.
coat
▪ Some women wear fur coats, others puffa jackets and boots.
▪ She wore a black coat and had a Soviet Railway badge pinned to her black hat.
▪ I didn't want to work in a place where I couldn't wear my fur coat.
▪ He walked to the front of the large auditorium still wearing his heavy coat and black felt bowler.
▪ She wore a tweed coat with a Cairngorm brooch in the lapel and a furry green felt hat.
▪ Her feet are bare and she is wearing no coat, only a short-sleeved dress with tiny sprigs of blue flowers.
▪ Nan wore the smart navy coat she had worn yesterday, but this time over a pale yellow wool dress.
▪ Today the man carrying the placard warning that the end is nigh may well be wearing a white laboratory coat.
dress
▪ There was the pretty girl from the village shop wearing an emerald-green dress more suited to a wedding.
▪ Today Astrid wore a white satiny dress with a wide gold cinch belt.
▪ He was only outdone by pony-tailed Kate Winslet, wearing a plunging black dress with a crocheted black cardigan.
▪ She is wearing a black dress and pearls, and a stole is strewn on the front seat.
▪ Some of them wore dresses with bulky trainers showing at the bottom.
▪ Jenny, the tomboy, still felt awkward wearing a dress, and so she wore jodhpurs most of the time.
▪ She wore a ravishing dress of white tulle with a wide skirt embroidered with little knots of red velvet.
▪ Had the Brother worn a religious dress, it is most unlikely that such a mistake would have occurred.
girl
▪ If you remember, the girl said they always wore leather gloves.
▪ A two-year-old girl wore L-shaped shoes to keep her feet in the proper position while sleeping or resting.
▪ There was a thin silver ring of the type small girls wear on the fourth finger.
▪ A woman and a girl wore Western clothing.
▪ This girl is wearing black, and Mr Earnshaw died recently.
▪ Now the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the Silver Shoes which the girl always wore.
▪ The girls were wearing them along with fat clunky shoes that looked like malformed elevator shoes from the seventies.
glass
▪ He had a moustache, short dark hair, and he wore glasses.
▪ Above the grin, the Microsoft Bob face is wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, a la Buddy Holly.
▪ Clean-shaven, he wore steel-rimmed glasses and moved with calculated deliberation.
▪ A young woman wearing glasses with thick lenses sat on a huge sack, reading a letter.
▪ He wore horn-rim glasses and had an air of authority.
▪ Miraculously, he was still wearing his glasses.
▪ You've got short hair, you've got a moustache now, and you wear glasses.
▪ Dad wore glasses, but they spent more time in his hand than on his nose.
gown
▪ She was wearing a dressing gown and pyjamas.
▪ Alek brought her a cluster of early narcissus and she wore a short white gown with a grass-blade pattern.
▪ He had deliberately sent Dana away when he must know how important it was she wear the gown designed for her.
▪ I recognized Rod Holloway, wearing a surgical gown.
▪ The bride wore a gown of ivory raw satin, with the bride and groom's initials embroidered on the train.
▪ All she had left was the clothes she wore, the second gown Nahum had bought her, and her wedding ring.
▪ She was wearing a long white gown, her hair hanging down, like a crazy woman.
hair
▪ Her orange-red hair was worn bouffant, and her orange lipstick made her look like a small circus clown.
▪ She sipped her wine, the dark brown hair she still wore long hanging on each side of her face.
▪ He had fair short hair and wore a red tartan jacket.
▪ She looked shorter, rounder, her hair gone gray and worn in a bun.
▪ Her hair would have been worn in ringlets, or perhaps plaited and held in place with decorative pins.
▪ She has dark hair, wears a slip of patterned silk pulled up to reveal her thighs.
hat
▪ Always protect them with high factor sunscreen creams, and wear a t-shirt and hat.
▪ They wear square hats, when they should try sombreros.
▪ Bernstock &038; Speirs' hats are designed to be easy to wear.
▪ One side is not wearing black hats and one wearing white hats.
▪ Needless to say, I never wore the hat and it eventually went into one of my charity bags.
▪ A buxom woman wears a tall hat.
▪ The station master is wearing a hat shaped like a cucumber.
▪ I think she never forgave me for organizing my friends against wearing hats to mass in 1965.
helmet
▪ Thorfinn had not even troubled to wear his helmet.
▪ Failure to wear a bicycle helmet often contributed to the deaths of cyclists who had been drinking.
▪ He has dark hair and wears a gold helmet with a crest.
▪ And as far as could be determined, none of those head injuries involved anyone wearing a helmet.
▪ He suddenly had a vision of Lee tearing up his note-book and wearing his helmet.
▪ Why did she not wear her helmet, as she usually does?
▪ The rider wore a gilded Grecian helmet that was crested with black and red wool and plumed with a white tuft.
▪ He wears a white helmet that is sealed to his airtight suit and he strides to the unmarked plane without delay.
jacket
▪ The man who shot Richard had grey hair and was wearing a black leather jacket, a blue jumper and jeans.
▪ Mr Alsop generally wore a velvet smoking jacket to dinner; the young men wore black tie.
▪ I had borrowed one of Norris's big paramilitary-style fawn shirts to wear as a jacket over my anti Poll Tax T-shirt.
▪ Frank, the eldest son, is twelve, old enough to wear a jacket and tie.
▪ He did look strange, wearing his woolly jacket and swinging in his sling!
▪ Tony Rich, wearing a fleece-trimmed black jacket with black satin pants and a derby.
▪ He wore a brown sports jacket with a black roll neck sweater.
▪ The bikers wear leather jackets, chaps and gloves.
jeans
▪ He was wearing jeans, like her, and a sweatshirt, and she almost laughed.
▪ Gary wears regulation Levi 501 jeans and a Ralph Lauren polo shirt.
▪ She wears jeans and a tatty jumper.
▪ Seven months earlier my friend could be seen on campus wearing blue jeans and a shirt that said dumb things.
▪ Followed at once by a young man, dark-haired, sunburnt, wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
▪ She wore jeans and a shirt.
▪ Tina looked fantastic in whatever she wore, particularly jeans or a tennis skirt.
▪ She was wearing her blue jeans under her nightgown.
man
▪ The man was wearing a donkey jacket and overalls.
▪ One man, wearing a cowboy hat and a loud check jacket, clashed somewhat with the overcoats and pinstripes.
▪ A woman in her mid forties was dragged into bushes by a man wearing a black stocking mask.
▪ Pappas was shot by two men wearing ski masks.
▪ All the men wore the same cut of beige suit with wide lapels and thick stitching.
▪ At last there was a knock on the door and a young man entered wearing a battered leather jacket and torn breeches.
mask
▪ As I said she wore a mask, and a rich black cloak with white lambswool trimmings.
▪ At the door is a sign instructing all visitors to wear a mask and gown to avoid contaminating the patient.
▪ Clearly, a character wearing a mask is going to have a tricky time with some Fel tests.
▪ Some even began wearing gas masks to block the suspicious fumes.
▪ Sir, if that was my master, why was he wearing a mask over his face?
▪ They wear custom, low-volume masks.
▪ The demonic figures wearing ugly masks and straw and brushwood clothes are intended to scare away evil spirits.
▪ I still wear my Nixon mask on Halloween.
pair
▪ Now that her ankle was fully recovered she could wear a higher pair of fragile silver sandals.
▪ He would wear a pair of shoes until they almost fell apart.
▪ She wasn't afraid to wear a pair of glasses.
▪ He was wearing a very attractive pair of black tassel loafers.
▪ He was wearing a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles.
▪ Cynthia arrived, wearing a pair of blue oven mitts and carrying a large stew pot.
▪ Nat let him in and went to fetch Tony who appeared wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a big smile.
▪ It was Gao Ma, wearing only a pair of olive-drab underpants.
ring
▪ In his left ear he wore a small ring.
▪ I stopped wearing my wedding ring.
▪ She is sometimes seen by his side but wears no engagement ring.
▪ The woman was wearing a wedding ring with diamonds circling a blue sapphire stone, Rodriguez said.
▪ He wore a gold ring, engraved with the letter R - his Christmas present from Johanna.
▪ His golden hair was parted down the middle, and he wore a gold ring on his right hand.
▪ On the index finger of his left hand he wore a gold signet ring.
▪ He wore a gold ring on the third finger of his left hand.
shirt
▪ He had a grey walrus moustache and was wearing a collarless shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
▪ James Walker wore a white tee shirt not quite large enough to accommodate his biceps and pectorals.
▪ Zach put it on and when the jacket was done up it looked as if he was wearing a proper dress shirt.
▪ Saturday night at the Shoreline Amphitheatre he was wearing a white shirt and thick framed glasses.
▪ Peter usually wore the number 11 shirt but frequently operated down the right flank.
▪ She wore jeans and a shirt.
▪ He wore a black shirt and brown trousers during the two-minute hearing at South Sefton Magistrates' court.
▪ As usual, Marty is wearing a plaid shirt, suspenders and Harley-Davidson cap.
shoe
▪ She decided to risk of pair of ridiculously high-heeled shoes, which she wore only occasionally.
▪ Some of us are wearing stylish golf shoes and some are wearing the high-priced sneakers of Tiger Woods' favorite shoe company.
▪ She'd walked some distance, judging by her shoes, which were worn to pieces.
▪ They began with nothing but the shoes they wore, the old clothes on their backs...
▪ She had never seen anything like the shoes the girl was wearing.
▪ But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here.
▪ I haven't got the shoes he was wearing, but I have got his spare school pair.
▪ A pencil is for writing, a shoe is for wearing, a car is for driving.
skirt
▪ I felt so cross with myself, so stupid for wearing a short skirt.
▪ She also suggested that I wear a skirt, a long skirt.
▪ She wears a short black skirt and a holster on her belt.
▪ She was wearing a green skirt and a white blouse; she was absolutely clean.
▪ I absolutely hated having to wear a skirt but I soon got used to it.
▪ Alan told me when I arrived at a restaurant wearing a long black skirt.
▪ With its pretty round neck, softly padded shoulders and front-pocket detail, it looks great worn with a skirt or trousers.
▪ She wore a long skirt and a baggy maroon V-neck sweater, one of mine she had appropriated and almost worn out.
smile
▪ The author's face wears a witch's smile of appreciation.
▪ I look like I have been pressed into this against my wishes though I wear a phony smile.
▪ Her dead body wears the smile of accomplishment.
▪ The city wears a smile, and the arts that endure are valued.
▪ He was content there; he wore a wearied smile.
▪ Meh'Lindi wore a mildly blissful smile which vanished as she came alert again.
▪ The figures on the west still wear the archaic smile.
▪ His face wore that same enigmatic smile, but he did not speak.
suit
▪ WEAPONS/ARMOUR: Marius wears a suit of heavy armour and rides an armoured Warhorse.
▪ He wears a silver suit on stage.
▪ He wore a blue suit of safari cut, a non-military colour but a safari-suit none the less.
▪ One worker would have suffered fatal burns had he not worn a protective chemical suit which was not routine for repair work.
▪ Urquhart had come straight from the office and was still wearing a grey suit with a red tie.
▪ He wears excellently tailored business suits, buying six a year from the best shop on Michigan Avenue.
tie
▪ Why can female staff in Canterbury wear casual clothes but the men have to wear shirts and ties?
▪ Mr Alsop generally wore a velvet smoking jacket to dinner; the young men wore black tie.
▪ The stubble was gone, and he was even wearing a tie - well, nearly.
▪ Citizen Oswald came to town wearing his dark tie, cashmere sweater and gray flannel suit.
▪ But today, wearing the right tie often means wearing the right label.
▪ I wore a tie to work.
▪ In sombre silence, wearing black ties, the Calvinist elders walk between the unusually-full pews.
▪ Everyone wears a suit and tie to the table.
uniform
▪ It looked like Uncle Mosse; it was wearing his old uniform.
▪ Those students and parents who refuse to wear uniforms can apply for a waiver.
▪ It would have been better than staying at home but I did not want to wear a school uniform.
▪ I feel the gates shut on the man, who is now wearing a striped uniform.
▪ Redbrook Secondary appears to be run on fairly formal lines, with all pupils wearing a uniform.
▪ You wear a uniform to play baseball, you wear a uniform to play soccer.
▪ The 12 also refused to wear their prison uniform.
▪ He wore a white uniform and carried a spray can of poison with a long wand.
watch
▪ He floated up the East River wearing a stolen watch.
▪ The consultants wore watch-chains.
▪ There is no reason to wear your watch this way, except that your father told you to do so.
▪ Could the workers afford to buy and wear these watches?
▪ I only wear my watch this way because my father did.
▪ He had played a wizard, but Anton now wore his watch.
▪ Something about not wearing a watch, he ventured.
woman
▪ The women wore Laura Ashley or Ghost dresses, the men wore expensive jeans.
▪ In another painting, the subject, a woman, wears yellow.
▪ A young woman wearing glasses with thick lenses sat on a huge sack, reading a letter.
▪ In all of these circumstances women can wear their feminist hearts on their sleeves and the world will continue much the same.
▪ No woman should wear a tampon for more than eight hours.
▪ All females in their thirties dressed like chic astronauts; all women over forty wore jaunty, flared trouser suits.
▪ She was a thin pale blond woman who never wore makeup.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be wearing your teacher's/salesman's etc hat
be worn to a frazzle
▪ We were worn to a frazzle after our last-minute Christmas shopping.
take on/assume/wear the mantle of sth
▪ Against all expectations, it has not taken on the mantle of best pupil in the euro class.
the worse for wear
▪ Architectural details there were few and those were the worse for wear.
▪ But I can see he's the worse for wear, the weathering the worker wreaks on himself.
▪ But I digress ... We are all somewhat the worse for wear after a long night in the hotel bar.
▪ Here I was, returning from a presidential mission, and plainly the worse for wear.
▪ It was a long evening, and he arrived home at two in the morning, much the worse for wear.
▪ John McGuire was slightly the worse for wear after his night out with his wife.
▪ They were a bit the worse for wear; the flat was not clean and was damp.
wear sackcloth and ashes
▪ I have no wish to see Aitken go through the rest of his life wearing sackcloth and ashes.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Carolyn always wore bright colors like red.
▪ Do you think I can wear these shoes with this dress?
▪ I wear a lot of black.
▪ Rosa was wearing her hair in a long braid down her back.
▪ She wears sandals, even in the winter.
▪ She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
▪ Were you wearing your jacket when we got on the bus?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Everything she does, the clothes she wears and her boyfriends will be minutely scrutinized.
▪ He was six feet two, kept fit by riding daily in Central Park, and always wore jodhpurs to work.
▪ It works less, rests more, and consequently takes a much longer time to wear out.
▪ Suitable for people who wear glasses.
▪ The other, facing us, wears aqua, four thin black stripes low on her hips.
▪ There is no reason to wear your watch this way, except that your father told you to do so.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
casual
▪ She knew perfectly well from the many Press photos of him that he preferred casual wear.
▪ Consequently, we're seeing it more on the high street as casual wear.
▪ Today's look is still smart - even casual wear is part of mainstream fashion.
▪ Our handsome first edition covers everything from suits to casual wear.
▪ There was to be a show in the morning, mainly of street and casual wear.
▪ He was dressed in casual wear: grey sweater and slacks with knife edge creases.
▪ Smart casual wear is quite in order for dinner time, but bring one cocktail dress for the Captain's cocktail party.
■ NOUN
evening
▪ The collection includes day wear, evening wear and stunning ballgowns.
▪ The band, dressed in evening wear and sitting on a raised dais, were at the far end of the hall.
▪ However, for slinky evening wear, black, be it opaque or sheer, is still the right choice.
▪ First, sartorial simplicity is always best - evening wear is not fancy dress.
▪ For details of evening wear hire departments in Britain see page 134.
▪ Two styles, equally elegant, each suited to day or evening wear.
▪ Red satin, stripes or dots will not do. Evening wear is ceremonial dress.
leisure
▪ Details of a deal with leisure wear company Cotton Traders will be announced shortly.
▪ In the following series the reliance on women in fishnet leisure wear became a bit obvious.
▪ Sally is into high street leisure wear and casual daytime things rather than glitzy disco gear.
▪ The typical leisure wear at the ryokan is a blue and white cotton robe known as a yukata provided by the management.
■ VERB
show
▪ The forefoot showed excessive wear while the heel remained relatively unscathed.
▪ Replace anything that is showing signs of wear and always have a strong safety leash joining the rig to the board.
▪ And who could blame him for showing a little wear?
▪ The flats had been built ten years earlier and showed wear badly.
▪ Some items suffered from more than one specific defect, while others suffered from none, showing merely general wear and tear.
▪ However, they are more expensive, require more complicated care procedure and are more likely to show signs of wear.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
if the cap fits (, wear it)
take on/assume/wear the mantle of sth
▪ Against all expectations, it has not taken on the mantle of best pupil in the euro class.
the worse for wear
▪ Architectural details there were few and those were the worse for wear.
▪ But I can see he's the worse for wear, the weathering the worker wreaks on himself.
▪ But I digress ... We are all somewhat the worse for wear after a long night in the hotel bar.
▪ Here I was, returning from a presidential mission, and plainly the worse for wear.
▪ It was a long evening, and he arrived home at two in the morning, much the worse for wear.
▪ John McGuire was slightly the worse for wear after his night out with his wife.
▪ They were a bit the worse for wear; the flat was not clean and was damp.
wear sackcloth and ashes
▪ I have no wish to see Aitken go through the rest of his life wearing sackcloth and ashes.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a shop that specializes in evening wear
▪ After five years, the stadium is beginning to show signs of wear.
▪ Dalton said that the machine showed signs of heavy wear and had not been well-maintained.
▪ Excessive tyre wear may be caused by faulty brakes.
▪ The company's line of casual wear is primarily sold in large discount chain stores.
▪ This type of sofa can take a lot of wear.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ An inner spiral has also been added to deflect swirling grain from the cyclone's inlet pipe, minimising wear.
▪ Architectural details there were few and those were the worse for wear.
▪ It is sometimes possible to determine when this procedure has been used, by examining the wear patterns of the gears.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Wear

Wear \Wear\ (w[^a]r), v. t. [Cf. Veer.] (Naut.) To cause to go about, as a vessel, by putting the helm up, instead of alee as in tacking, so that the vessel's bow is turned away from, and her stern is presented to, the wind, and, as she turns still farther, her sails fill on the other side; to veer.

Wear

Wear \Wear\, v. t. [imp. Wore (w[=o]r); p. p. Worn (w[=o]rn); p. pr. & vb. n. Wearing. Before the 15th century wear was a weak verb, the imp. & p. p. being Weared.] [OE. weren, werien, AS. werian to carry, to wear, as arms or clothes; akin to OHG. werien, weren, to clothe, Goth. wasjan, L. vestis clothing, vestire to clothe, Gr. "enny`nai, Skr. vas. Cf. Vest.]

  1. To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one's self, as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage, etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to wear a coat; to wear a shackle.

    What compass will you wear your farthingale?
    --Shak.

    On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
    --Pope.

  2. To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect or manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance. ``He wears the rose of youth upon him.''
    --Shak.

    His innocent gestures wear A meaning half divine.
    --Keble.

  3. To use up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to consume by use; to waste; to use up; as, to wear clothes rapidly.

  4. To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend.

    That wicked wight his days doth wear.
    --Spenser.

    The waters wear the stones.
    --Job xiv. 19.

  5. To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a channel; to wear a hole.

  6. To form or shape by, or as by, attrition. Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us. --Locke. 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 on or To wear upon, to wear. [Obs.] ``[I] weared upon my gay scarlet gites [gowns.]'' --Chaucer. To wear out.

    1. To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay; as, to wear out a coat or a book.

    2. To consume tediously. ``To wear out miserable days.''
      --Milton.

    3. To harass; to tire. ``[He] shall wear out the saints of the Most High.''
      --Dan vii. 25.

    4. To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service.

      To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. [Colloq.]

Wear

Wear \Wear\ (w[=e]r; 277), n. Same as Weir.

Wear

Wear \Wear\, n.

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

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

    Motley 's the only wear.
    --Shak.

  3. The result of wearing or use; consumption, diminution, or impairment due to use, friction, or the like; as, the wear of this coat has been good.

    Wear and tear, the loss by wearing, as of machinery in use; the loss or injury to which anything is subjected by use, accident, etc.

Wear

Wear \Wear\, 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, etc.; as, a man wears well as an acquaintance.

  2. To be wasted, consumed, or diminished, by being used; to suffer injury, loss, or extinction by use or time; to decay, or be spent, gradually. ``Thus wore out night.''
    --Milton.

    Away, I say; time wears.
    --Shak.

    Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people that is with thee.
    --Ex. xviii. 18.

    His stock of money began to wear very low.
    --Sir W. Scott.

    The family . . . wore out in the earlier part of the century.
    --Beaconsfield.

    To wear off, to pass away by degrees; as, the follies of youth wear off with age.

    To wear on, to pass on; as, time wears on.
    --G. Eliot.

    To wear weary, to become weary, as by wear, long occupation, tedious employment, etc.

Wear

Weir \Weir\ (w[=e]r), Wear \Wear\,n. [OE. wer, AS. wer; akin to G. wehr, AS. werian to defend, protect, hinder, G. wehren, Goth. warjan; and perhaps to E. wary; or cf. Skr. v[.r] to check, hinder. [root]142. Cf. Garret.]

  1. A dam in a river to stop and raise the water, for the purpose of conducting it to a mill, forming a fish pond, or the like.

  2. A fence of stakes, brushwood, or the like, set in a stream, tideway, or inlet of the sea, for taking fish.

  3. A long notch with a horizontal edge, as in the top of a vertical plate or plank, through which water flows, -- used in measuring the quantity of flowing water.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
wear

"action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1560s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use."

wear

Old English werian "to clothe, put on, cover up," from Proto-Germanic *wazjan (cognates: Old Norse verja, Old High German werian, Gothic gawasjan "to clothe"), from PIE *wos-eyo-, from root *wes- (4) "to clothe" (cognates: Sanskrit vaste "he puts on," vasanam "garment;" Avestan vah-; Greek esthes "clothing," hennymi "to clothe," eima "garment;" Latin vestire "to clothe;" Welsh gwisgo, Breton gwiska; Old English wæstling "sheet, blanket;" Hittite washshush "garments," washanzi "they dress").\n

\nThe Germanic forms "were homonyms of the vb. for 'prevent, ward off, protect' (Goth. warjan, O.E. werian, etc.), and this was prob. a factor in their early displacement in most of the Gmc. languages" [Buck]. Shifted from a weak verb (past tense and past participle wered) to a strong one (past tense wore, past participle worn) in 14c. on analogy of rhyming strong verbs such as bear and tear. Secondary sense of "use up, gradually damage" (late 13c.) is from effect of continued use on clothes. To wear down (transitive) "overcome by steady force" is from 1843. To wear off "diminish by attrition or use" is from 1690s.

Wiktionary
wear

Etymology 1 alt. 1 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion. 2 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To defend; protect. 3 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel. 4 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety. vb. 1 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion. 2 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To defend; protect. 3 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel. 4 (context now chiefly UK dialectal transitive English) To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context uncountable English) (''in combination'') clothing 2 (context uncountable English) damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time 3 (context uncountable English) fashion vb. To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc.

WordNet
wear
  1. n. impairment resulting from long use; "the tires showed uneven wear"

  2. a covering designed to be worn on a person's body [syn: clothing, article of clothing, vesture]

  3. the act of having on your person as a covering or adornment; "she bought it for everyday wear" [syn: wearing]

  4. [also: worn, wore]

wear
  1. v. be dressed in; "She was wearing yellow that day" [syn: have on]

  2. have on one's person; "He wore a red ribbon"; "bear a scar" [syn: bear]

  3. have in one's aspect; wear an expression of one's attitude or personality; "He always wears a smile"

  4. deteriorate through use or stress; "The constant friction wore out the cloth" [syn: wear off, wear out, wear thin]

  5. have or show an appearance of; "wear one's hair in a certain way"

  6. last and be usable; "This dress wore well for almost ten years" [syn: hold out, endure]

  7. go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely" [syn: break, wear out, bust, fall apart]

  8. exhaust or tire through overuse or great strain or stress; "We wore ourselves out on this hike" [syn: tire, wear upon, tire out, weary, jade, wear out, outwear, wear down, fag out, fag, fatigue] [ant: refresh]

  9. put clothing on one's body; "What should I wear today?"; "He put on his best suit for the wedding"; "The princess donned a long blue dress"; "The queen assumed the stately robes"; "He got into his jeans" [syn: put on, get into, don, assume]

  10. [also: worn, wore]

Wikipedia
Wear (disambiguation)

Wear is the erosion of material from a solid surface by the action of another material.

Wear may also refer to:

  • Putting on clothing
  • River Wear, in northeast England
  • WEAR-TV, an ABC affiliate in Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
  • World Engineering Anthropometry Resource, (WEAR), a non-profit group for sharing anthropometric data
  • Wear (journal), a scientific journal
  • Wear (surname), a surname
  • Jibe or wear, a sailing maneuver
Wear

Wear is related to interactions between surfaces and specifically the removal and deformation of material on a surface as a result of mechanical action of the opposite surface.

In materials science, wear is erosion or sideways displacement of material from its "derivative" and original position on a solid surface performed by the action of another surface.

Wear of metals occurs by the plastic displacement of surface and near-surface material and by the detachment of particles that form wear debris. This process may occur by contact with other metals, nonmetallic solids, flowing liquids, or solid particles or liquid droplets entrained in flowing gasses.

Wear can also be defined as a process where interaction between two surfaces or bounding faces of solids within the working environment results in dimensional loss of one solid, with or without any actual decoupling and loss of material. Aspects of the working environment which affect wear include loads and features such as unidirectional sliding, reciprocating, rolling, and impact loads, speed, temperature, but also different types of counter-bodies such as solid, liquid or gas and type of contact ranging between single phase or multiphase, in which the last multiphase may combine liquid with solid particles and gas bubbles.

Wear (journal)

Wear is a scientific journal publishing papers on wear and friction. The papers may fall within the subjects of physics, chemistry, material science or mechanical engineering. It is published by Elsevier.

Wear (surname)

Wear is a surname, and may refer to:

  • Andy Wear (21st century), English actor
  • Arthur Wear (1880-1918), American tennis player
  • David Wear (born 1990), American basketball player
  • James H. Wear (1838-1893), American businessperson
  • Joseph Wear (1876-1941), American tennis player
  • Peter Wear (born 1949), Australian journalist
  • Ron Wear (born 1979), Canadian actor
  • Sylvanus Wear (1858-1920), English naturalist
  • Travis Wear (born 1990), American basketball player

Usage examples of "wear".

I will not wear thy soul with words about my grief and sorrow: but it is to be told that I sat now in a perilous place, and yet I might not step down from it and abide in that land, for then it was a sure thing, that some of my foes would have laid hand on me and brought me to judgment for being but myself, and I should have ended miserably.

CHAPTER 12 Winter Amidst of the Mountains In all this they had enough to be busy with, so that time hung not heavy on their hands, and the shadow of the Quest was nowise burdensome to them, since they wotted that they had to abide the wearing of the days till spring was come with fresh tidings.

Those that remained were vacuum ablating, their edges fraying like worn cloth, while their flat surfaces slowly dissolved, reducing their overall thickness.

She noticed that he wore his soft brown hat carelessly on the side of his head and that his accent was flat.

It is also suggested that the fingerprint examiner wear rubber gloves when using acetone, benzine, xylene, formaldehyde, potassium hydroxide, or sodium hydroxide.

It felt better to wear out my frustrations by the use of my legs, and so I resolved to follow the capering street to the top if need be and see the Vincula and Acies Castle from that height, and then to show my badge of office to the guards at the fortifications there and walk along them to the Capulus and so cross the river by the lowest way.

The only hitch was, that this cabby might have been ordered to pick up as a passenger a man who came from the Acme Florists, wearing a red primrose.

Early snowdrops showed their little white bonnets under a tree, and yellow aconites wore their pretty green frills just beside them.

They sought to wear away at the armies of Xacatecas and Acoma, here through attrition, and there through the nerve-sawing, actionless boredom.

He also took off a cloak of fine material, in which he had dressed himself that day, and dressed the king in it, and sent for some colored boots, which he put on his feet, and he put a large silver ring on his finger, because he had heard that he had admired greatly a silver ornament worn by one of the sailors.

Now it was a poster on the wall, an admonition to wear seat belts, that demanded her unwavering gaze.

Bel, the present duchess of Hawkscliffe, considered one of the most ravishing women in Society, wore a gown of soft rose silk with long sleeves of transparent aerophane crepe.

Many of the people afoot had worn and ragged coats, breeches out at the knee, dresses with tattered hems, and threadbare cloaks or none at all.

Thirty seconds later sixteen of them were crouched on the aft hull, all carrying machine guns, wearing balaclava hoods and wired into their walkie-talkies.

His hair and beard shone with scented oil and he wore a chain of snowy agates around one wrist.