rear

Meaning

Verb

1. To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
2. To breed and raise.
3. To rise up on the hind legs
4. To get angry.
5. To rise high above, tower above.
6. To raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
7. To construct by building; to set up
8. To raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
9. (obsolete) To lift and take up.
10. (obsolete) To rouse; to strip up.

Adj

Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost

Adv

early; soon

Noun

1. The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.
2. Specifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
3. The buttocks or bottom.

Adj

1. (of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
2. (of meats) Rare.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹɪ(ə)ɹ/

Etymology

From Middle English reren (“to raise”), from Old English rǣran (“to raise, set upright, promote, exalt, begin, create, give rise to, excite, rouse, arouse, stir up”), from Proto-West Germanic *raiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, *raisijaną (“to cause to rise, raise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to lift oneself, rise”).
Cognate with Scots rere (“to construct, build, rear”), Icelandic reisa (“to raise”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raisjan, “to cause to rise, lift up, establish”), German reisen (“to travel”, literally “to rear up and depart”); and a doublet of raise. More at rise.
Related to rise and raise, which is used for several of its now archaic or obsolete senses and for some of its senses that are currently more common in other dialects of English.