Found 1 items, similar to To wear away.
English → English (gcide)
Definition: To wear away
Wear
\Wear\, v. t. [imp.
Wore (w[=o]r); p. p.
Worn
(w[=o]rn); p. pr. & vb. n.
Wearing. Before the 15th century
wear was a weak verb, the imp. & p. p. being
Weared.] [OE.
weren, werien, AS. werian to carry, to wear, as arms or
clothes; akin to OHG. werien, weren, to clothe, Goth. wasjan,
L. vestis clothing, vestire to clothe, Gr. "enny`nai, Skr.
vas. Cf.
Vest.]
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1. To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one's self,
as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage,
etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to
wear a coat; to wear a shackle.
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What compass will you wear your farthingale? --Shak.
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On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore. --Pope.
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2. To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect or
manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance.
“He wears the rose of youth upon him.” --Shak.
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His innocent gestures wear
A meaning half divine. --Keble.
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3. To use up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to
consume by use; to waste; to use up; as, to wear clothes
rapidly.
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4. To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition,
scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually;
to cause to lower or disappear; to spend.
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That wicked wight his days doth wear. --Spenser.
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The waters wear the stones. --Job xiv. 19.
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5. To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a
channel; to wear a hole.
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6. To form or shape by, or as by, attrition.
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Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in
the first essay, displeased us. --Locke.
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To wear away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy,
by gradual attrition or decay.
To wear off, to diminish or remove by attrition or slow
decay; as, to wear off the nap of cloth.
To wear on or
To wear upon, to wear. [Obs.] ``[I] weared
upon my gay scarlet gites [gowns.]'' --Chaucer.
To wear out.
(a) To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay;
as, to wear out a coat or a book.
(b) To consume tediously.
“To wear out miserable days.”
--Milton.
(c) To harass; to tire. ``[He] shall wear out the saints
of the Most High.'' --Dan vii. 25.
(d) To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in
military service.
To wear the breeches. See under
Breeches. [Colloq.]
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