bear vs hold

bear

verb
  • To carry on, or maintain; to have. 

  • To carry upon one's person, especially visibly; to be equipped with. 

  • To endeavour to depress the price of, or prices in. 

  • To wear. 

  • To carry (offspring in the womb), to be pregnant (with). 

  • To have or display (a mark or other feature). 

  • To display (a particular heraldic device) on a shield or coat of arms; to be entitled to wear or use (a heraldic device) as a coat of arms. 

  • To present or exhibit (a particular outward appearance); to have (a certain look). 

  • To have (a name, title, or designation). 

  • To possess or enjoy (recognition, renown, a reputation, etc.); to have (a particular price, value, or worth). 

  • To have (interest or a specified rate of interest) stipulated in its terms. 

  • To have (an appendage, organ, etc.) as part of the body; (of a part of the body) to have (an appendage). 

  • To carry or hold in the mind; to experience, entertain, harbour (an idea, feeling, or emotion). 

  • To feel and show (respect, reverence, loyalty, etc.) to, towards, or unto a person or thing. 

  • To possess inherently (a quality, attribute, power, or capacity); to have and display as an essential characteristic. 

  • To have (a relation, correspondence, etc.) to something else. 

  • To give (written or oral testimony or evidence); (figurative) to provide or constitute (evidence or proof), give witness. 

  • To have (a certain meaning, intent, or effect). 

  • To behave or conduct (oneself). 

  • To possess and use, to exercise (power or influence); to hold (an office, rank, or position). 

  • To carry or convey, literally or figuratively. 

  • To support or sustain; to hold up. 

  • To endure or withstand (hardship, scrutiny, etc.); to tolerate; to be patient (with). 

  • To admit or be capable of (a meaning); to suffer or sustain without violence, injury, or change. 

  • To push, thrust, press. 

  • To take effect; to have influence or force; to be relevant. 

  • To give birth to (someone or something) (may take the father of the direct object as an indirect object). 

  • To sustain, or be answerable for (blame, expense, responsibility, etc.). 

  • To warrant, justify the need for. 

  • To produce or yield something, such as fruit or crops. 

  • To afford, to be something to someone, to supply with something. 

  • Of a weapon, to be aimed at an enemy or other target. 

  • To be, or head, in a specific direction or azimuth (from somewhere). 

adj
  • Characterized by declining prices in securities markets or by belief that the prices will fall. 

noun
  • The meat of this animal. 

  • A state policeman (short for Smokey Bear). 

  • A portable punching machine. 

  • An investor who sells commodities, securities, or futures in anticipation of a fall in prices. 

  • A block covered with coarse matting, used to scour the deck. 

  • A large, generally omnivorous mammal (a few species are purely carnivorous or herbivorous), related to the dog and raccoon, having shaggy hair, a very small tail, and flat feet; a member of the family Ursidae. 

  • Something difficult or tiresome; a burden or chore. 

  • The fifteenth Lenormand card. 

  • A rough, unmannerly, uncouth person. 

  • A large, hairy man, especially one who is homosexual. 

hold

verb
  • To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. 

  • To detain. 

  • To take place, to occur. 

  • In a food or drink order at an informal restaurant etc., requesting that a component normally included in that order be omitted. 

  • To have and keep possession of something. 

  • Not to move; to halt; to stop. 

  • To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person). 

  • To contain or store. 

  • To be in possession of illicit drugs for sale. 

  • To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice). 

  • To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. 

  • To win one's own service game. 

  • To cause to wait or delay. 

  • To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions. 

  • To maintain, to consider, to opine. 

  • To grasp or grip. 

  • To reserve. 

  • To bear, carry, or manage. 

  • To keep oneself in a particular state. 

  • To remain continent; to control an excretory bodily function. 

  • Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. 

  • To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. 

noun
  • The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair. 

  • The part of an object one is intended to grasp, or anything one can use for grasping with hands or feet. 

  • Power over someone or something. 

  • A place where animals are held for safety 

  • An act or instance of holding. 

  • Keep a firm hold on the handlebars. 

  • A position or grip used to control the opponent. 

  • The wager amount, the total hold. 

  • A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin. 

  • The cargo area of a ship or aircraft (often holds or cargo hold). 

  • The ability to persist. 

  • An exercise involving holding a position for a set time 

  • An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with. 

  • Something reserved or kept. 

  • A grasp or grip. 

  • The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold. 

  • As of Monday night the total Melbourne Cup hold was $848,015 

  • The House Hold on the game is 10,000, this is the amount of decision or risk the house wishes to assume. 

  • The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy. 

  • A statistic awarded to a relief pitcher who is not still pitching at the end of the game and who records at least one out and maintains a lead for his team. 

  • An instance of holding one's service game, as opposed to being broken. 

  • A region of airspace reserved for aircraft being kept in a holding pattern. 

How often have the words bear and hold occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )