Blast From the Past: Bear vs. Bare

[ariestess]

Our "Blast From the Past" for this week brings up a homonym pairing that whymzycal previously covered back in August 2009 very succinctly. But let's give this one a little bit of a refresher, shall we? I couldn't bear the idea of letting someone make this mistake when we at fandom_grammar can help stop it.
With examples from Wicked [both the book-verse and the musical-verse].

We'll start with the easier of the two words, based on number of definitions listed over at Dictionary.com [eight versus thirty]: bare. For the most part, this word deals with being exposed in some way. While this word is normally used as an adjective, the third definition is actually used as a verb.

• without covering or clothing; naked; nude
  Elphaba could not understand why Galinda would want to parade around in such skimpy undergarments. It left so much of her body bare and exposed.
  
• without the usual furnishings, contents, etc.
  Glinda stared at the cell that Elphaba had supposedly been incarcerated in, wondering how her beloved Elphie could stand living in such bare, stark surroundings.
  
• to open to view; reveal or divulge
  This is the verb form and uses "bared" in both the past and past participle tenses.
  Galinda glanced up in surprise as Elphaba began to bare her soul in soft, tortured words.
  

Bear, on the other hand, has thirty different definitions and is used primarily as a verb, but we'll work on a few of the salient points here. In this form, you would use "bore" for the past tense and "borne" for the past participle tense. As whymzycal had mentioned previously, there are three main themes to the multitude of meanings for bear, not including anything related to the animal of the same name.

• To carry or support some sort of physical load.
  • to hold up; support
  • to hold or remain firm under (a load)
    
  • to carry; bring
  Glinda bore the Grimmerie proudly back to Shiz after Elphaba escaped on her broomstick.
  
• To give birth, or reproduce some sort of offspring.
  • to bring forth (young); give birth to
    
  • to produce by natural growth
  Elphaba stared at the boy child trailing after her, still in shock that she'd borne him without any recollection of the event.
  
• To withstand something, usually negative.
  • to hold up under; be capable of
    
  • to hold or carry (oneself, one's body, one's head, etc.)
  Until her dying day, Glinda knew she would bear the responsibility of keeping Elphaba's cause alive, a memorial to her beloved Elphie.
  

In the end, these two words have very different meanings, but what can we do to remember the difference? Try this. If you're talking about something being naked or exposed, use bare; otherwise, use bear.

References

• bare @ Dictionary.com
  
• bear @ Dictionary.com