Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking the usual or appropriate covering or clothing; naked.
  • adjective Exposed to view; undisguised.
  • adjective Lacking the usual furnishings, equipment, or decoration.
  • adjective Having no addition, adornment, or qualification.
  • adjective Just sufficient; mere.
  • adjective Obsolete Bareheaded.
  • transitive verb To make bare; uncover or reveal.
  • transitive verb To expose.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Old preterit of bear.
  • To make bare; uncover; divest of covering: as, to bare one's head or one's breast.
  • To disclose; make manifest; lay bare: as, to bare the secrets of the grave.
  • noun That part of a clapboard, roof-slate, or the like, which is exposed to the weather when the roof is complete, as distinguished from the lap.
  • Naked; without covering: as, bare arms; the trees are bare.
  • With the head uncovered.
  • Open to view; unconcealed; undisguised.
  • Lacking in appropriate covering or equipment; unfurnished: as, bare walls.
  • Plain; simple; unadorned; without polish.
  • Threadless; napless.
  • Poor; destitute; indigent; empty; unfurnished; unprovided with what is necessary or comfortable: absolutely or with of.
  • Empty; valueless; paltry; worthless.
  • Mere; scarcely or just sufficient: as, the bare necessaries of life; a bare subsistence.
  • Unaccompanied; without addition; simple.
  • Unadorned; without literary or artistic effect; bald; meager.
  • In beer-making, not completely covered by the bubbles formed in fermentation: said of the surface of beer.
  • Raw; excoriated.
  • Lean; spare.
  • The uncovered or unhidden surface; the body; the substance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare Surface; body; substance.
  • noun (Arch.) That part of a roofing slate, shingle, tile, or metal plate, which is exposed to the weather.
  • transitive verb To strip off the covering of; to make bare.
  • Bore; the old preterit of bear, v.
  • adjective Without clothes or covering; stripped of the usual covering; naked.
  • adjective With head uncovered; bareheaded.
  • adjective Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed.
  • adjective Plain; simple; unadorned; without polish; bald; meager.
  • adjective Destitute; indigent; empty; unfurnished or scantily furnished; -- used with of (rarely with in) before the thing wanting or taken away.
  • adjective Threadbare; much worn.
  • adjective Mere; alone; unaccompanied by anything else.
  • adjective (Naut.) having no sail set.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete Simple past of bear.
  • verb transitive To uncover; to reveal.
  • adjective Minimal; that is or are just sufficient.
  • adjective Naked, uncovered.
  • adjective Having no supplies.
  • adjective Having no decoration.
  • adjective Having had what usually covers (something) removed.
  • adjective UK, slang, not comparable A lot or lots of.
  • adverb UK, slang Very; significantly.
  • adverb Barely.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bar, from Old English bær; see bhoso- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Inflected forms.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English barian.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English bær.

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Examples

  • In what I call bare assent, there is no time-element in the feeling of belief, though there may be in the content of what is believed.

    The Analysis of Mind Bertrand Russell 1921

  • Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone Wednesday released what he termed a bare-bones proposed budget that will avoid doomsday job, school and service cuts, but will h ...

    NY Daily News 2009

  • After what she described as a bare-bones Christmas, she said she looked over her household finances and realized they might lose their home.

    Consumer Watchdog Updates 2009

  • After what she described as a bare-bones Christmas, she said she looked over her household finances and realized they might lose their home.

    Yahoo! News: Top Stories 2009

  • Lucia came outside in bare feet with a tablecloth tied around her neck like a superhero.

    Maria Rodale: Learning to Run Maria Rodale 2010

  • Professional development in bare Swing nowadays is something really odd.

    This Is Exactly What We Want | jonobacon@home 2010

  • Did she have a full Brazilian before she set sail on her cruise and learn since her shipwreck that bare is not the fashion here in Illyria?

    Did Viola, Rosalind, and Portia wax? 2009

  • And you're standing here in bare feet in your long trousers that are hiked up and you're saying, who would let me near him?

    Government Mistrust Spreads In Post-Flood Pakistan 2010

  • Did she have a full Brazilian before she set sail on her cruise and learn since her shipwreck that bare is not the fashion here in Illyria?

    Lance Mannion: 2009

  • Lucia came outside in bare feet with a tablecloth tied around her neck like a superhero.

    Maria Rodale: Learning to Run Maria Rodale 2010

  • (The term "naked" or "bare" domain is generally used to refer to a second-level domain (example.com), in contrast to a more qualified subdomain, such as e.g., www.example.com.)

    The gTLDs' New Clothes - A Look at Centralization in Naked Domains 2023

Comments

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  • BARE - (noun) - An alcoholic beverage made of barley, hops, and yeast.

    Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."

    April 8, 2008