bear2
• noun 1 a large, heavy mammal with thick fur and a very short tail. 2 Stock Exchange a person who sells shares hoping to buy them back later at a lower price. Often contrasted with BULL1. said to be from a proverb warning against ‘selling the bear’s skin before one has caught the bear’. 3 a rough or bad-mannered person. — PHRASES like a bear with a sore head Brit. informal very irritable. — ORIGIN Old English.
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