bear the bell in English

Forms: bears the bell [present, singular, third-person], bearing the bell [participle, present], bore the bell [past], borne the bell [participle, past] [Show additional information ▼] [Hide additional information ▲]

Etymology: In allusion to the bellwether of a flock, or the leading animal of a team or drove, when wearing a bell. Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,bore,borne>}} bear the bell (third-person singular simple present bears the bell, present participle bearing the bell, simple past bore the bell, past participle borne the bell)

[Show JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▼] [Hide JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "In allusion to the bellwether of a flock, or the leading animal of a team or drove, when wearing a bell.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bears the bell",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bearing the bell",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bore the bell",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "borne the bell",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,bore,borne>"
      },
      "expansion": "bear the bell (third-person singular simple present bears the bell, present participle bearing the bell, simple past bore the bell, past participle borne the bell)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be the first or the leader."
      ],
      "id": "en-bear_the_bell-en-verb-MEe2gxgJ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bear the bell"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "In allusion to the bellwether of a flock, or the leading animal of a team or drove, when wearing a bell.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bears the bell",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bearing the bell",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bore the bell",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "borne the bell",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,bore,borne>"
      },
      "expansion": "bear the bell (third-person singular simple present bears the bell, present participle bearing the bell, simple past bore the bell, past participle borne the bell)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be the first or the leader."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bear the bell"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-11 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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"bear the bell" meaning in English

Verb