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Bear down   /bɛr daʊn/   Listen
Bear down

verb
1.
Exert a force with a heavy weight.  Synonyms: bear down on, drag down, press down on, weigh down.
2.
Contract the abdominal muscles during childbirth to ease delivery.  Synonym: overbear.
3.
To make a rush at or sudden attack upon, as in battle.  Synonym: charge.
4.
Exert full strength.
5.
Pay special attention to.
6.
Exert a force or cause a strain upon.



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"Bear down" Quotes from Famous Books



... formidable expedition to Peru, whereby at the same time the Peruvians should be freed from the tyranny by which they were still oppressed, and the Chilians should be rid of the constant danger that they incurred from the presence of a Spanish army in Lima, Callao, and other garrisons, ready to bear down upon them again and again, as it had often done before. In 1819 Lord Cochrane had vainly asked for a suitable land force with which to aid his attack upon Callao. It was now resolved to organize a ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, Rear-Admiral of the Fleet, Etc., Etc. • Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald

... her face on him, and examined him with a rigorous placidity; all her features seeming to bear down on him. Evan did not like ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... and chopping and gouging of ice began, but the more rapidly the encroaching edge was cut away the more swiftly did it bear down. The huge mass began to rumble; it "calved," it split, it detonated, and, having finally loosened itself from its bed, it acquired increased momentum. As the men with chisels and steam-points became exhausted ...
— The Iron Trail • Rex Beach

... the night a bright flash now appearing, "Oh, ho!" cried Will Watch, "the Philistines bear down; Bear a hand, my tight lads, ere we think about sheering, One broadside pour in, should we swim, boys, ...
— The King's Own • Captain Frederick Marryat

... must needs be; but the hounds will have work enough to run the creature down. (15) The huntsman having seized the fawn, will hand it to the keeper. The bleating will continue; and the hind, partly seeing and partly hearing, will bear down full tilt upon the man who has got her young, in her desire to rescue it. Now is the moment to urge on the hounds and ply the javelins. And so having mastered this one, he will proceed against the rest, and employ the same method of the chase in ...
— The Sportsman - On Hunting, A Sportsman's Manual, Commonly Called Cynegeticus • Xenophon

... a swifter sliding; The river hasteth, her banks recede. Wing-like sails on her bosom gliding Bear down the ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 2 (of 4) • Various

... the pyrates." Thus he appeared in the last engagement which he fought—that with the Swallow—a royal sloop of war. A gallant fight they made of it, those bulldog pirates, for, finding themselves caught in a trap betwixt the man-of-war and the shore, they determined to bear down upon the king's vessel, fire a slapping broadside into her, and then try to get away, trusting to luck in the doing, and hoping that their enemy might be ...
— Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates • Howard I. Pyle

... open and sanguinary violence against the objects of its fury. Our malignant feelings, which must seek gratification through more indirect channels, and undermine the obstacles which they cannot openly bear down, may be rather said to be tinctured SABLE. But the deep-ruling impulse is the same in both cases; and the proud peer who can now only ruin his neighbour according to law, by protracted suits, is the genuine descendant of the baron who wrapped the castle of his competitor in flames, and knocked ...
— Waverley • Sir Walter Scott

... says, "There must be a holy roughness and violence, to break through all that stands in our way; neither caring for allurements, nor fearing opposition, but by a pious obstinacy and frowardness, we must thrust away the one and bear down the other. This is the Christian who will carry heaven by force, when the whining pusillanimous professor, who only complains of difficulty, but never attempts to conquer it, will be ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... have gotten a shot at him!" said Giant, wistfully. "Think of bringing a bear down first ...
— Young Hunters of the Lake • Ralph Bonehill

... timid, for there is no place in earth or air or water, outside his own little doorway under the mossy stone, where he is safe. Above him the owls watch by night and the hawks by day; around him not a prowler of the wilderness, from Mooween the bear down through a score of gradations, to Kagax the bloodthirsty little weasel, but will sniff under every old log in the hope of finding a wood mouse; and if he takes a swim, as he is fond of doing, not a big ...
— Secret of the Woods • William J. Long

... squadron's quick return.— Gravina and Villeneuve, once back to Europe, Can straight make Ferrol, raise there the blockade, Then haste to Brest, there to relieve Ganteaume, And next with four-or five-and fifty sail Bear down upon our coast as they see fit.— I read they aim to strike at Ireland still, As formerly, and as I wrote ...
— The Dynasts - An Epic-Drama Of The War With Napoleon, In Three Parts, - Nineteen Acts, And One Hundred And Thirty Scenes • Thomas Hardy

... answered De Bracy, "nor did I think there had been within the four seas that girth Britain a champion that could bear down these five knights in one day's jousting. By my faith, I shall never forget the force with which he shocked De Vipont. The poor Hospitaller[62-10] was hurled from his saddle like a stone ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 • Charles H. Sylvester

... bear down on the enemy. Unless he works his steering gear, we have her where she is utterly ...
— A Victorious Union - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic

... instantly recover from this surprise. The Koh-i-noor, exasperated by his failure, and still a little confused by the smart hit he had received, but furious, and confident of victory over a young fellow a good deal lighter than himself, made a desperate rush to bear down all before him and finish the contest at once. That is the way all angry greenhorns and incompetent persons attempt to settle matters. It doesn't do, if the other fellow is only cool, moderately quick, and has a very little science. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 25, November, 1859 • Various

... gave her own positive assurance that there was not the faintest foundation for the charge. Colonel Fish did not scruple to reply 'that he considered an anonymous document evidence' strong enough to bear down a lady's proffered word of honor. If, after this provocation, the spirit of the fair pleader was roused, and she spoke somewhat unadvisedly with her lips, few will be disposed to impute to her anything more than imprudence. The Provost ...
— Border and Bastille • George A. Lawrence

... dearest friend he had ever known. It was as though Ferriss were lying in state there, with black draperies hung about the bier and candles burning at the head and foot. Death had been in that room. Empty though it was, a certain religious solemnity, almost a certain awe, seemed to bear down upon the senses. Before he knew it Bennett found himself kneeling at the denuded bed, his face buried, his arms flung wide across the place where Ferriss had ...
— A Man's Woman • Frank Norris

... Moreover, in his meetings with rival bulls it had never been his wont to depend upon a blind, irresistible charge,—thereby leaving it open to an alert opponent to slip aside and rip him along the flank,—but rather to fence warily for an advantage in the locking of antlers, and then bear down his foe by the fury and speed of his pushing. It so happened, therefore, that he, too, came not too violently against the barrier. Loudly his vast spread of antlers clashed upon the steel meshes; and one short prong, jutting low over his brow, pierced through and ...
— Children's Literature - A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes • Charles Madison Curry

... Jackals[FN155] went out one day to seek food, and as they prowled about in quest of this, behold, they happened upon a dead camel and said in themselves, "Verily we have found wherewithal we may live a great while; but we fear lest one of us oppress the other and the strong bear down the weak with his strength and so the puny of us perish. Wherefore it behoveth us seek one who shall judge between us and appoint unto each his part, so the force full may not lord it over the feeble." As they consulted ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton

... parents of old. When they have ridden merrily round all the concourse of their gazing friends, Epytides shouts from afar the signal they await, and sounds his whip. They gallop apart in equal numbers, and open their files three and three in deploying bands, and again at the call wheel about and bear down with levelled arms. Next they start on other charges and other retreats in corresponsive spaces, and interlink circle with circle, and wage the armed phantom of battle. And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their lances to the charge, now plight peace ...
— The Aeneid of Virgil • Virgil

... the assailants was a tall, powerful fellow on a splendid horse. When within about sixty yards of the defences he levelled his spear and made a tremendous rush as if resolved to bear down all obstacles. The Gaucho chief—if we may so style him—presented his musket and pulled the trigger. ...
— The Rover of the Andes - A Tale of Adventure on South America • R.M. Ballantyne

... England people have no idea of the fanaticism displayed and excitement created in these societies, which are a peculiar feature in the states, and arising from the nature of their institutions. Their strength and perseverance are such that they bear down all before them, and, regardless of all consequences, they ...
— Diary in America, Series One • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

... the more after-dinner speeches I make. [Laughter.] There are a great many difficulties in the way, and there are three principal ones, I think. The first is the having too much to say, so that the words, hurrying to escape, bear down and trample out the life of each other. The second is when, having nothing to say, we are expected to fill a void in the minds of our hearers. And I think the third, and most formidable, is the necessity of following a speaker who ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol II, After-Dinner Speeches E-O • Various

... confusion, will have no other effect upon those who observe it, than that of convulsing them with irresistible laughter. Some circumstances of misery are so powerfully ridiculous, that neither kindness nor duty can withstand them; they bear down love, interest, and reverence, and force the friend, the dependent, or the child, to give way ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson - Volume IV [The Rambler and The Adventurer] • Samuel Johnson

... are ornamented with the choicest colors. [43] Few are provided with a coat of mail; [44] and scarcely here and there one with a casque or helmet. [45] Their horses are neither remarkable for beauty nor swiftness, nor are they taught the various evolutions practised with us. The cavalry either bear down straight forwards, or wheel once to the right, in so compact a body that none is left behind the rest. Their principal strength, on the whole, consists in their infantry: hence in an engagement these are ...
— The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus • Tacitus

... the body of sin might be destroyed," Rom. vi. 6. So that this old tyrant that oppresseth the people of God, hath got his death wounds, in the crucifixion of Christ, and shall never recover his former vigour and activity, to oppress and bear down the people of God, as he did. He is now virtually, through the death of Jesus, killed and crucified, being in Christ nailed to ...
— Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life • John Brown (of Wamphray)

... contents. The next is a resumption of practice with the little pistol. The third, and last, is pencil and paper, and lists of grub and duffel, and estimates of routes and expenses, and correspondence with men who spell queerly, bear down heavily with blunt pencils, and agree to be at Black Beaver Portage on a certain date. Now, though the February snow and sleet still shut him in, the spring has draw very near. He can feel the warmth of her breath rustling through his ...
— The Forest • Stewart Edward White

... to the commander, and said: "It seems to me that the best policy is to bear down on him with all speed possible. That will give the gunners the best chance, and at the same time present the smallest target ...
— The Boy Volunteers with the Submarine Fleet • Kenneth Ward

... thrown into the tawny waters of the Tiber. Their sister Beatrix had taken refuge with a poor devout Christian woman, named Lucina. But she did not desert her brothers in death; she made her way in secret to the bank of the river, watching to see whether the stream might bear down the corpses so dear to her. Driven along, so as to rest upon the bank, she found them at last, and, by the help of Lucina, she laid them in the grave in the cemetery called Ad Ursum Pileatum. For seven months she remained in her shelter, but she was at last denounced, ...
— A Book of Golden Deeds • Charlotte M. Yonge

... malignant party, against religion and the work of reformation in these kingdoms. (2) Since the contriving and subscribing of the same, it hath been the continual endeavour of that party sometimes by undermining and some times by open opposition to undo the same and to bear down all those that clave honestly thereto and faithfully prosecute all the ends thereof. (3) That there hath been these many years past and still is, such a party, in all the three kingdoms, considerable for number, power, and policy. (4) That that party hath always ...
— The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning • Hugh Binning

... of having distinctly advanced in his favour. There could be no doubt that he admired her as much as ever, and she believed it rested with herself to raise his admiration to the point where it should bear down the lingering counsels of expediency. The task was not an easy one; but neither was it easy, in her long sleepless nights, to face the thought of what George Dorset was so clearly ready to offer. Baseness ...
— House of Mirth • Edith Wharton

... them: it flashed from nowhere to bear down with terrific speed. The floor beneath them shook with the jarring of heavy guns, and McGuire saw the advancing shape bursting with puffs of smoke, while their own ship shot upward with a sickening twist. A silver ...
— Astounding Stories, February, 1931 • Various

... seated in Seville, together with the influence of the vested interests of the merchants whose prosperity depended upon the retention of that city as the one port for Indian commerce, were sufficient to bear down all opposition. The maritime towns of Galicia and Asturia, inhabited by better seamen and stronger races, often protested, and sometimes succeeded in obtaining a small share of the lucrative trade.[9] But Seville retained its primacy until 1717, in which year the Contratacion ...
— The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century • Clarence Henry Haring

... its proper degree of connection with the chest. This consistent character in the upper voice is attained by giving the tone a bit of pomp or nobleness of quality. In taking a low pitch there is, among novices, always a tendency to bear down on the tone in order to gain strength or to give weight to utterance. The voice is thus crowded into, or on, the throat. The voice should never be pushed down or pressed back in the low pitch. This practice leads to raggedness of tone, and finally to virtual ...
— Public Speaking • Irvah Lester Winter

... into that excessive corruption the world fell into before the deluge. The knowledge of a God, of whatever nature he is conceived, and the worship of a Deity, are apt, of themselves, to be a restraint upon men. So that idolatry was of some use to bear down the corruption of the world. It is therefore probable, that the horrid vices men were fallen into before the deluge, proceeded only from their not knowing nor serving a God. I am even of opinion (continues he) that the idolatry and polytheism after the deluge derived their origin from the atheism ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... of an hour later, a gay step mounted the ascent, and Friedel's bright face laughed from his helmet: "There, mother, will you crown your knights? Could you see Ebbo bear down the chief squire? for the old Snake was not there himself. And whom do you think we rescued, besides a whole band of Venetian traders to whom he had joined himself? Why, my uncle's friend, the architect, of whom he used to ...
— The Dove in the Eagle's Nest • Charlotte M. Yonge

... conjectured that she had been sunk in the hurricane of the previous day, and on the possibility that some of the crew might still be clinging to her rigging, although I was on a lee-shore, I resolved to bear down on her. I pointed her out to ...
— Hurricane Hurry • W.H.G. Kingston

... said in some memoirs that the moment Castlereagh stood up and adjusted his waistcoat, there was a thrill in the House of Commons, and his followers bellowed their exultation and delight. In a more recent day, Lord Althorpe was able to bear down the hostility of some of the most powerful orators of his time by a bluff manliness which no rhetoric could withstand. And so also with Jimmy—his sheer audacity carries him along the slow, dull, inept, muddy tide of his ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor

... the present it seemed as though the flood of enthusiasm would bear down all opposition. The performance of Lohengrin, which I attended, was made the occasion of a frantic ovation, such as I have only experienced from the Viennese public. I was urged to have both my other operas presented also, but felt a sort of ...
— My Life, Volume II • Richard Wagner

... violent &c adj.; run high; ferment, effervesce; romp, rampage, go on a rampage; run wild, run amuck, run riot; break the peace; rush, tear; rush headlong, rush foremost; raise a storm, make a riot; rough house [Slang]; riot, storm; wreak, bear down, ride roughshod, out Herod, Herod; spread like wildfire (person). [shout or act in anger at something], explode, make a row, kick up a row; boil, boil over; fume, foam, come on like a lion, bluster, rage, roar, fly off the handle, go bananas, go ape, blow one's top, blow one's cool, flip ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... hardly believe his senses when he saw the Terre Bonne standing out towards the landing-place before the plantation. When her wheels started again, he nerved himself for the encounter; for he supposed she would come about, and bear down upon him. It was incredible that Colonel Raybone should give up the chase without an effort to capture them; and he knew his master too well to think, after more consideration, that he would abandon his slaves without an energetic ...
— Watch and Wait - or The Young Fugitives • Oliver Optic

... by bringing the bear to his knees. As the bear gathered himself for another rush, McKiernan swung the heavy rifle and struck the bear over the head with the barrel. He was a powerful man, accustomed to swinging an axe, and the blow knocked the bear down and stunned him. The stock of the rifle broke in McKiernan's hands and the barrel fell close by the bear, which had fallen upon the very edge of a steep slope at the side ...
— Bears I Have Met—and Others • Allen Kelly

... situation, and saw most of the ships in Sprague's squadron disabled from fight. The engagement, however, was renewed, and became very close and bloody. The prince threw the enemy into disorder. To increase it, he sent among them two fireships, and at the same time made a signal to the French to bear down; which if they had done, a decisive victory must have ensued. But the prince, when he saw that they neglected his signal, and observed that most of his ships were in no condition to keep the sea long, wisely provided for their safety by making easy sail ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part F. - From Charles II. to James II. • David Hume

... this storm of life under which we of to-day are born. All the air is tremulous with quick, converging nerves; concentrating events, bringing each soul, as it were, into a possible focus continually, under the forces that are forging to bear down upon it. There are no delays,—no respites of ignorance. Right into the midst of our most careless or most selfish doing, comes the summons that arrests us in the Name ...
— The Other Girls • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney

... freedom of the valley rises before me as we again bear down into sunlit space. Can this be Chu-Chu, staid and respectable filly of American pedigree,—Chu-Chu, forgetful of plank- roads and cobble stones, wild with excitement, twinkling her small white feet beneath me? George laughs out of a cloud of dust, ...
— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte

... have thought they have not waited for the rumour, but "gone in" as an experiment) of a puncheon of oil, or a log of timber waiting for shipment at an out-of-the-world, one house port, one of these vessels will bear down on that port, and have that cargo. In addition to the English lines there is the Woermann line, equally devoted to cargo, I may almost say even more so, for it is currently reported that Woermann liners will lie off and wait for the stuff to grow. This I will not vouch for, ...
— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... galleys, with their heavy batteries in the bows and all the guns pointing ahead, went into battle, as at Lepanto, in line abreast. The broadside battleship would thus have her guns pointed at her consorts. The line abreast was used only to bear down on the enemy. The fighting formation was the line ahead. This was adopted at first as a fleet running down from windward closed upon its enemy. Unless they were actually running away, the other side would be sailing in line ahead with the wind abeam. It was soon realized ...
— Famous Sea Fights - From Salamis to Tsu-Shima • John Richard Hale

... stripp'd of its native rind, Bears a pink flag, that rattles in the wind; And all the rustic villagers around Behold with wond'rous eyes the hallow'd ground, And often pause to view the massive roll, Bear down the turf, and level ...
— Fragments of Two Centuries - Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King • Alfred Kingston

... records of those times of Covenanting, telling of the prayers, and tears, and love, and courage of those who gave themselves to God, is fitted to inspire the coldest heart with noblest emotions. Their inward piety made them men of power, and enabled them to bear down every barrier to the kingdom of their Lord erected by the craft of prince and priest. It is when Israel would call her Lord, Ishi, my Husband, that "the names of Baalim would be taken out of her mouth and be remembered no more." It was when the ...
— The Covenants And The Covenanters - Covenants, Sermons, and Documents of the Covenanted Reformation • Various

... life preserver. Get a grip on it, Nick!" bellowed Jack, as he gradually turned the nose of the Tramp around, meaning to bear down upon ...
— Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast - or Through Storm and Stress to Florida • Louis Arundel

... point removed from the scene of immediate operations; but two others had entered at that place, and he could see them winding among the shocks. They were paying no regard to the direction of their walk, whose vague serpentining soon began to bear down towards Henchard. A meeting promised to be awkward, and he therefore stepped into the hollow of the nearest ...
— The Mayor of Casterbridge • Thomas Hardy

... from him in principles of church or state, so far from disliking Popery, upon the above-mentioned motives of perjury, "quitting their wives, or burning their relations;" that the hopes of "enjoying the abbey lands" would soon bear down all such considerations, and be an effectual incitement to their perversion; and so he goes gravely on, as with the only argument which he thinks can have any force, to assure them, that "the parochial priests ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. III.: Swift's Writings on Religion and the Church, Vol. I. • Jonathan Swift

... Chatterton in the disguise of Rowley—a dramatically imagined persona behind which he lost his own identity—are full of a curious attractiveness; while his acknowledged pieces are naught. It is not worth while to bear down very heavily on the moral aspects of this kind of deception. The question is one of literary methods rather than of ethics. If the writer succeeds by the skill of his imitations, and the ingenuity of the evidence that he brings to support them, in actually imposing ...
— A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century • Henry A. Beers

... lights every few minutes to point out her position. We found our comrades had been in great alarm for our safety. Various had been the surmises. That we had boarded a pirate, and been sacrificed, or made prisoners, was most prevalent, and a breeze was anxiously prayed for, that they might bear down, and release or revenge us. Half an hour after we returned to our ship, a light wind sprang up, which very shortly freshened into a gale, so that in the morning we had completely lost ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous

... his 'Large and Small Game of Bengal,' puts this bear down as not only carnivorous, but a foul feeder. He says: "On my first visit to the hills I very soon learnt that this bear was a flesh-eater, so far as regards a sheep, goats, &c., but I could hardly believe that he would make a repast on such abominations (i.e. carrion), though ...
— Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon • Robert A. Sterndale

... men did dance, The stoutest they could find in France; We with two hundred did advance, On board of the Arethusa! Our captain hail'd the Frenchman, 'Ho!' The Frenchman then cried out 'Hullo!' 'Bear down, d'ye see, to our Admiral's lee.' 'No, no,' says the Frenchman; 'that can't be.' 'Then I must lug you along with me,' Says the ...
— Will Weatherhelm - The Yarn of an Old Sailor • W.H.G. Kingston

... dhow. Gordon and Desmond, I'll leave you with five men to manage these fellows, while I go in chase of her. If I take her, keep close to me. Signalise should they show any inclination to be mutinous, and I'll bear down and help you. I'll leave you the canoe; we shall make better way without her." Saying this, Adair shoved off and pulled away in chase ...
— The Three Commanders • W.H.G. Kingston

... whose details have passed into the haze of tradition, this lacks a trustworthy chronicler. It would seem, however, as though the dash and daring of Douglas failed to bear down the cool, persistent opposition of his antagonist. Douglas should have known that the hazards in his course were reared by his own hand. Whatever other barriers blocked his way, Nebraska-ism was the most formidable; but this ...
— Stephen A. Douglas - A Study in American Politics • Allen Johnson

... the statesman, whose views of constitutional law varied from those of the dominant party, the later crime would never have been committed. But Francis Aerssens—considering his own and other partisans lives at stake if the States' right party did not fall—had been able to bear down all thoughts of mercy. He was successful, was called to the house of nobles, and regained the embassy of Paris, while the house of Barneveld was trodden into the dust of dishonour and ruin. Rarely has an offended politician's revenge been more thorough than his. Never did the mocking fiend betray ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... panther all day, he had slipped while going down a steep bank and losing his footing had plunged to the bottom. How he had lain there bruised and helpless with a broken leg, expecting at any time to see the beast he had been tracking bear down upon him. How at last, after hours of unspeakable agony, help had come in the shape of a tall, strongly built young man, whose cabin was not far off and who had carried Jean to it, then, after roughly setting the injured leg, and making his patient ...
— Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower

... you desire to have the continuance of my friendship, meddle no more with this business except it be to bear down all false and scandalous reports, and to facilitate what I am sure my honour is so much concerned in. And whosoever I find is to be my Lady Castlemaine's enemy in this matter, I do promise, upon my word, ...
— Royalty Restored - or, London under Charles II. • J. Fitzgerald Molloy

... and gave the alarm. The Portuguese, finding themselves discovered, began immediately to fire their cannon, curriers, and arquebuses; then lighted up certain tubes of wild fire, and all their people both on shore and in their ships set up great shouts, while they continued to bear down on the May-flower. With all the haste we could, one of our guns was got ready and fired at them, on which they seemed to hesitate a little; But they recharged their ordnance, and again fired at us very briskly. In the mean time we got three guns ready which we fired at them, when they were ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr

... a whole cloud of objections. "Plenty white-face bear down there. Big as a horse. Kill man while he sleeps. Wolf down there. Run in packs as many as all the Kakisas. ...
— The Woman from Outside - [on Swan River] • Hulbert Footner

... instead of commissioners. Penn accordingly appointed Captain John Blackwell, formerly an officer in Cromwell's army. Blackwell was not a Quaker but a "grave, sober, wise man," as Penn wrote to a friend, who would "bear down with a visible authority vice and faction." It was hoped that he would vigorously check all irregularities and bring Penn better returns from quitrents and sales ...
— The Quaker Colonies - A Chronicle of the Proprietors of the Delaware, Volume 8 - in The Chronicles Of America Series • Sydney G. Fisher

... himself and staring at Berry as at a wizard, he seized the girl by the arm and started to move rapidly away, wide-eyed and ill at ease.... With suppressed excitement and the tail of my eye, I watched him bear down upon one of the stumbling-blocks to which Berry had referred. The accuracy with which he approached it was almost uncanny. I found myself standing upon one leg.... The screech of anguish with which he hailed the collision, no less than ...
— Berry And Co. • Dornford Yates

... from the word, he proving past-master of his weapon, yet my stiff rifle-barrel was no mean defence against his lighter blade, with a reach preventing his point touching my body, and sufficient weight to bear down the thin, murderous steel whenever the two came into contact. It had been long practice with me, having picked up the pretty trick from a French zouave when I was a boy, so I swung the iron as if it were ...
— Prisoners of Chance - The Story of What Befell Geoffrey Benteen, Borderman, - through His Love for a Lady of France • Randall Parrish

... wields a huge two-handed sword with a vigor unabated by former struggles. Death has caught a shield from the arm of some previous victim; but his only offensive weapon is a huge thigh-bone, which we plainly see will bear down all before it. In the distance another figure of Death flies madly over the hills, beating a drum which summons other soldiers to the field. It is impossible to convey in words the fierce eagerness of this figure, minute as it is, and composed ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 17, March, 1859 • Various

... weapon and wrenched it from the hands of the frenzied fanatic and then the priest closed upon him with tooth and nail. Seizing the stocky, stunted body in his mighty hands Tarzan raised the creature high above his head, hurling him at his fellows who were now gathered ready to bear down upon their erstwhile captive. La stood proudly with ready knife behind the ape-man. No faint sign of fear marked her perfect brow—only haughty disdain for her priests and admiration for the man she loved so hopelessly filled ...
— Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... against which they had been compelled to spread horizontally. The winter snow is a sort of ceiling, lasting half the year; while the pressed surface is made yet smoother by violent winds armed with cutting sand-grains that bear down any shoot which offers to rise much above the general level, and that carve the dead trunks and ...
— The Yosemite • John Muir

... trail, winding its tortuous way from the Valley over the hills toward the Adirondack fastnesses, had been deserted for another long before—so long, in fact, that the young brave who chanced to follow the lounging tracks of the black bear down the creek to the gorge, or who turned aside from the stealthy pursuit of the eagle's flight to learn what this muffled roar might signify, looked upon the remains of the council fire's circle of stone seats above the cataract, and down into the chasm ...
— In the Valley • Harold Frederic

... me," whispered the major, as Mark held an unusually large frond aside. "Bear down more to the right and strike the stream. ...
— Mother Carey's Chicken - Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle • George Manville Fenn

... curtain of fire. They do so, and shells fall on the German reserves, while we press forward, teeth bared and cold steel gleaming grayly, to take the front lines. We leap the parapet of the German trench. We spot our man and bear down on him. We clean out the dugouts and haul away the cowering officers, and already we are straightening ...
— Private Peat • Harold R. Peat

... and either indiscriminately given up to the fury of the populace, or sentenced by sanguinary tribunals, which, with all the forms of the law, ordered them to be burnt alive. In times like these, much is indeed said of guilt and innocence; but hatred and revenge bear down all discrimination, and the smallest probability magnifies suspicion into certainty. These bloody scenes, which disgraced Europe in the fourteenth century, are a counterpart to a similar mania of the age, which was manifested in the persecutions ...
— The Black Death, and The Dancing Mania • Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker

... pants." He was never clever, never polished, he never charmed with the physical grace of his opponent, but he spoke with a power, an earnestness, and an energy that were tremendous. By the main strength of his ideas and his personality he seemed to bear down the prejudice against the principle for which he stood. He seemed to stand out in the mid-current of hostile opinion and by main strength hurl it back into its former course. The man's efforts were nothing less than herculean. He was a bigger man, a more powerful man, than ...
— Counsel for the Defense • Leroy Scott

... with all its mistakes and beginnings, with disconnected work, and agitated indolence.... There came back, too, to my memory the comrades who shared those early aspirations ... then like lightning in the night there came the gleam of a few bright memories ... then the shadows began to grow and bear down on me, it was darker and darker about me, more dully and quietly the monotonous years ran by—and like a stone, dejection sank upon my heart. I sat without stirring and gazed, gazed with effort and perplexity, ...
— The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev

... forces. On the 21st the Franco-Spanish fleet was entirely at sea, sailing in order of battle. The English had formed in two lines; Admiral Collingwood, upon the Royal Sovereign, commanded the first; Nelson, on board the Victory, directed the second. He had given orders to bear down upon the French lines in order to cut them. "The part of the enemy's fleet that you leave out of the fight," said he, "will come with difficulty to the assistance of the part attacked, and you will have conquered before it arrives." The same signal was ...
— Worlds Best Histories - France Vol 7 • M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

... army, and the shout spread far and wide to the javelin-men and the archers, "At the bay horse! At the bay horse!" The bravest of the Gothic chiefs placed their lances in rest, and rushed forward to bear down the Roman general. The guards of Belisarius, in that trying hour, showed themselves worthy of their own and, their general's fame. They closed up by his side, so well as to leave him only a single enemy. It is ridiculous to attempt ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 • Various

... her own son. When the boy ventured to ask a question about where he was, or when he would return, she always replied—'Bairns suld haud their tongues.' Nor would she vouchsafe another answer to any question that seemed to her from the farthest distance to bear down upon that subject. 'Bairns maun learn to haud their tongues,' was the sole variation of which the response admitted. And the boy did learn to hold his tongue. Perhaps he would have thought less about his father if he had had brothers or sisters, or ...
— Robert Falconer • George MacDonald

... were to be had, many would steep themselves a thousand fathoms down in the densest fumes of that oblivious drug. Tell him that the delirium tremens and the mania-a-potu lie in ambush for drunkards, he will say to you, "Let them bear down upon me, then, before the wind; anything that smacks of life is better than to feel Davy Jones's chest-lid on your nose." He is reckless as an avalanche; and though his fall destroy himself and others, yet a ruinous commotion is better than being frozen fast ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville

... The snow-wreath shifting place? Silent and slow as drifting wreath. Ere day, the clans from Preston Hill Moved downward to the vale beneath:— Dark was the scene and still! In stormy autumn day, when sad The boding peasant frets forlorn, Have ye not seen the mountain stream Bear down the standing corn? At dawn, when Preston bog was cross'd, Like mountain stream that bursts its banks. Charged wild those Celtic hearts of fire. On Cope's devoted ranks. Have ye not seen, from lonesome waste, The smoke-tower rising tall and slow, O'erlooking, ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller

... point between two stones should the layer of soil be less than two or three inches thick after being packed hard. If an upper stone is likely to bear down too heavily and crush the plant roots, this may be avoided by placing small stones here and there in the layer of soil. The roots will work between these stones, but there must be a continuous, though not necessarily straight, soil run from the front of the rock work to the solid ...
— Making A Rock Garden • Henry Sherman Adams

... whether or not the temperature of Mrs. Van Damexpense's second-best Siberian wolf-hound is still rising. That's what newspapers are for—to save you the trouble of stepping around and collecting the events of the day from the back fence. But your papers don't bear down hard enough on the Homeburg happenings, and that's why they ...
— Homeburg Memories • George Helgesen Fitch

... and by the day of the festival we shall have more than five hundred well-armed men within the walls, who, while the people are feasting, will bear down all opposing forces and open the gates to the larger body, who will lie concealed in the grain-ships ...
— Gycia - A Tragedy in Five Acts • Lewis Morris

... boy, that the hope of the nation is in educated and devoted young men? Don't you see that we are going to the devil with our thirst for filthy lucre? Don't you understand how noble a thing it would be for one of fortune's favorites to found an institution with his wealth, that would bear down its blessings to unborn millions? What if that institution should also bear his name? What if that name should be forever associated with that which is most hallowed in our national history? Wouldn't it ...
— Sevenoaks • J. G. Holland

... went to fight the Yanks," grinned Slogan. "Seems to me I've rid four hundred an' forty-two miles on that churndasher thar. My legs is one solid sore streak from my heels up, an' now it's beginnin' to attact my spine-bone. I'm too ol' an' stiff to bear down right in ...
— Westerfelt • Will N. Harben

... produced of which what has taken place at this election is only an example. The whole body of the people having been previously excited, the moment any incident such as this election occurs, all the popular passions start simultaneously up, and bear down every obstacle before them. Do not, therefore, be surprised that the peasantry should throw off their allegiance when they are under the operation of emotions which it would be wonderful if they could resist. The feeling by which they are actuated would ...
— The Land-War In Ireland (1870) - A History For The Times • James Godkin

... the bear stood with his broad breast full toward them. John's bullet, as they found, struck fair enough and ranged deep into the great body, while Leo's landed on one shoulder. It is possible neither shot would have knocked the bear down, but any bear, when hit, will drop. This one, with an angry roar which could have been heard half a mile, let go and came down directly toward them, rolling and clawing, biting at itself, and struggling to catch its footing. John fired ...
— The Young Alaskans in the Rockies • Emerson Hough

... assure you, Mrs Clyde," I answered sturdily, endeavouring, vainly, to bear down her raillery by my gravity. "I was never more serious in my life. I'm not a boy, Mrs Clyde; and I'm sure Min is old enough to know her ...
— She and I, Volume 2 - A Love Story. A Life History. • John Conroy Hutcheson

... Flores in the Azores," stood upon the deck of the little Revenge on that memorable August day in 1591, when "he chose to die rather than to dishonour himself, his country, and her Majesty's ship," so also did this Knight of Malta bear down on the twenty-four that were ...
— Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean • E. Hamilton Currey

... the canoe coming, at first scarcely moved, never thinking that a boat would venture outside the islands, within whose line they were accustomed to see vessels, but when the canoe continued to bear down upon them, they flew up and descended far away to one side. When he had sailed past the spot where these birds had floated, the Lake was his own. By the shores of the islands the crows came down for mussels. Moorhens swam in and out among the rushes, water-rats nibbled at the flags, ...
— After London - Wild England • Richard Jefferies

... well on with their task, Joses being seated upon a fragment of rock contentedly smoking his cigarette and giving instructions, he being an adept at such matters, having stripped off hundreds if not thousands of hides in his day, from bison cattle and bear down to panther ...
— The Silver Canyon - A Tale of the Western Plains • George Manville Fenn

... the Captal was carried off and placed in safety. In this bustle and turmoil, whilst the Navarrese and English were trying to follow the track of the Captal, whom they saw being taken off before their eyes, some French agreed with hearty good will to bear down on the Captal's banner, which was in a thicket, and whereof the Navarrese made their own standard. Thereupon there was a great tumult and hard fighting there, for the banner was well guarded, and by good men; but at last it was seized, won, torn, and cast to the ground. ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume II. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot



Words linked to "Bear down" :   accentuate, fight, contend, compact, constrict, squeeze, struggle, burden, contract, stress, accent, rush, bear down on, baseball game, emphasize, punctuate, saddle, press, baseball, emphasise, compress



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