Bearing

1. The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.
2. Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
3. The situation of one object, with respect to another, such situation being supposed to have a connection with the object, or influence upon it, or to be influenced by it; hence, relation; connection.
4. Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.
5. The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth; as, a tree in full bearing; a tree past bearing.
6. (Arch.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl.
1. That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports; as, a lintel or beam may have four inches of bearing upon the wall.
2. The portion of a support on which anything rests.
3. Improperly, the unsupported span; as, the beam has twenty feet of bearing between its supports.
4. The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal.
5. The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.
6. The situation of a distant object, with regard to a ship's position, as on the bow, on the lee quarter, etc.; the direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen; as, the bearing of the cape was W. N. W.
Ball bearings .
See under Ball.
To bring one to his bearings ,
to bring one to his senses.
To lose one's bearings ,
to become bewildered.
To take bearings ,
to ascertain by the compass the position of an object; to ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity.