Synonyms for bear down
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR BEAR DOWN
Thus silently did the "Chesapeake" bear down upon her adversary.
It seemed to bear down on us suddenly in a great burning sheet.
They have refused, without exception, to bear down on the word how.
Nelson now hoisted the signal to bear down on them in two lines.
After a word or two with the officers, he signalled to bear down on the enemy in two lines.
Yet again, if one should see us, would she bear down upon us?
Im goin to loop that craft and bear down on them from abeam.
But if we really do bear down upon you, will you give us a sign that its all right?
There is a power in Scripture which must bear down all before it.
I'll bear down on it when I talk to them in closing, and before then.
WORD ORIGIN
Old English beran "to bear, bring; bring forth, produce; to endure, sustain; to wear" (class IV strong verb; past tense bær, past participle boren), from Proto-Germanic *beranan (cf. Old Saxon beran, Old Frisian bera, Old High German beran, German gebären, Old Norse bera, Gothic bairan "to carry, bear, give birth to"), from PIE root *bher- (1) meaning both "give birth" (though only English and German strongly retain this sense, and Russian has beremennaya "pregnant") and "carry a burden, bring" (see infer).
Ball bearings "bear" the friction. Many senses are from notion of "move onward by pressure." Old English past tense bær became Middle English bare; alternative bore began to appear c.1400, but bare remained the literary form till after 1600. Past participle distinction of borne for "carried" and born for "given birth" is from late 18c. To bear (something) in mind is from 1530s.