bearing

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The manner in which one carries or conducts oneself: synonym: behavior.
• noun A machine or structural part that supports another part.
• noun A device that supports, guides, and reduces the friction of motion between fixed and moving machine parts.
• noun Something that supports weight.
• noun The part of an arch or beam that rests on a support.
• noun The act, power, or period of producing fruit or offspring.
• noun The quantity produced; yield.
• noun Direction, especially angular direction measured from one position to another using geographical or celestial reference lines.
• noun Awareness of one's position or situation relative to one's surroundings.
• noun Relevant relationship or interconnection.
• noun Heraldry A charge or device on a field.
• adjective Architecture Designed to support structural weight.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Supporting; sustaining: as, a bearing wall or partition (that is, a wall or partition supporting another).
• Solid; substantial: as, “a good bearing dinner,”
• noun That part of a construction which receives a superincumbent weight.
• noun The act or condition of taking or supporting that weight: thus, the upper bed of a block or pier affords a bearing of so many square inches; or may be said not to give a good bearing, or to need an iron plate to provide a better bearing.
• noun That part of a superincumbent mass which rests directly upon the supporting member: thus, a lintel has 6 inches' (or 48 square inches') bearing at either end.
• noun Support, as of a principle or an action; maintenance; defense.
• noun The act of enduring, especially of enduring patiently or without complaining; endurance.
• noun The manner in which a person bears or comports himself; carriage; mien; behavior.
• noun The mutual relation of the parts of a whole; mode of connection.
• noun The special meaning or application of anything said or written.
• noun The act or capability of producing or bringing forth: as, a tree past bearing.
• noun In architecture, the space between the two fixed extremes of a beam or timber, or between one extreme and a supporter: that is, its unsupported span.
• noun In machinery, the part in contact with which a journal moves; that part of a shaft or an axle which is in contact with its supports; in general, the part of any piece where it is supported, or the part of another piece on which it rests.
• noun Same as bearing-note.
• noun plural In ship-building, the widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer; the line of flotation which is formed by the water on her sides when upright, with provisions, stores, etc., on board in proper trim.
• noun In heraldry, any single charge of a coat of arms; any one of the ordinaries, or any heraldic bird, beast, or other figure (see charge); hence, in the plural, the whole heraldic display to which a person is entitled. See arm, 7.
• noun The direction or point of the compass in which an object is seen, or the direction of one object from another, with reference to the points of the compass. In geology and mining, used in speaking either of the outcrop of the strata or of the direction of any metalliferous lode or deposit, whether under ground or at the surface: nearly synonymous with run, course, and strike.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The manner in which one bears or conducts one's self; mien; behavior; carriage.
• noun Patient endurance; suffering without complaint.
• noun 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.
• noun Purport; meaning; intended significance; aspect.
• noun The act, power, or time of producing or giving birth.
• noun That part of any member of a building which rests upon its supports.
• noun The portion of a support on which anything rests.
• noun Improperly, the unsupported span.
• noun The part of an axle or shaft in contact with its support, collar, or boxing; the journal.
• noun The part of the support on which a journal rests and rotates.
• noun (Her.) Any single emblem or charge in an escutcheon or coat of arms -- commonly in the pl.
• noun 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.
• noun The widest part of a vessel below the plank-sheer.
• noun The line of flotation of a vessel when properly trimmed with cargo or ballast.
• noun See under Ball.
• noun to bring one to his senses.