wear

Meanings

Verb

• To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc.
• To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.
• To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.
• To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.
• To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.
• To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.
• To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.
• To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.
• (in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.
• To pass slowly, gradually or tediously.
• To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind. Also written "ware". Past: weared, or wore/worn.
• To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.
• To defend; protect.
• To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel.
• To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety.

Noun

• (in combination) clothing
• damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time
• fashion

Origin

• From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian ("to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)"), from Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjaną ("to clothe"), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- ("to dress, put on (clothes)").
• Cognate to Sanskrit वस्ते, Ancient Greek ἕννυμι ("put on"), Latin vestis ("garment") (English vest), Albanian vesh ("dress up, wear"), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian զգենում, Welsh gwisgo, Hittite 𒉿𒀸-.
• From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian ("to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)"), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną ("to defend, protect, ward off"), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- ("to close, cover, protect, save, defend").
• Cognate with Scots wer, weir, Dutch weren ("to aver, ward off"), German wehren ("to fight"), Swedish värja ("to defend, ward off"), Icelandic verja ("to defend").