Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bear, carry, or raise aloft; lift; elevate; sustain aloft.
  • To support; sustain.
  • To hold up; commend.

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

  • transitive verb To bear up; to raise aloft; to support in an elevated situation; to sustain.

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

  • verb transitive To bear up; raise aloft; support in an elevated situation; sustain.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English upberen, equivalent to up- +‎ bear.

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Examples

  • After the door had slammed, Havig must sit down for a minute; his knees would not upbear him.

    There Will Be Time Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1972

  • After the door had slammed, Havig must sit down for a minute; his knees would not upbear him.

    Two in Time Anderson, Poul 1970

  • At his present height, and well beyond, the Jovian air is still dense enough to upbear objects of consider-able specific gravity.

    Three Worlds To Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964

  • At his present height, and well beyond, the Jovian air is still dense enough to upbear objects of considerable specific gravity.

    Three Worlds to Conquer Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1964

  • No awning was spread over the square, this evening, and every eye beheld the ascent of the resurrected saints, a wondrous cloud seeming to upbear them upon its billowy whiteness.

    The Mark of the Beast Sidney Watson

  • And the flowers and the grass-blades his memory upbear;

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862 Various

  • Her voice shook with a pathetic tremor, became hoarse and almost inaudible; her eyes sank, or wandered wildly; her brow was bathed with the sweat of a secret agony; she might have given way utterly under the paralyzing spell, had not some sudden inspiration of genius or love, a prophetic thrill of power, or a memory of her unwearied babe, come to nerve, to upbear her.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 23, September, 1859 Various

  • Thereon bade he upbear the athelings 'treasures, 1920

    The Tale of Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats Anonymous

  • Gila, in her most imperial mood, wearing a bewildering imported frock whose simple intricacies and daring contrasts were well calculated to upbear a determined spirit in a supreme combat, awaited his coming impatiently.

    The Witness Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

  • The purport of my address is the conservation of life; the development of physical and moral power as well as of mental alertness; the creation of bravery and the evolution of that higher and broader element -- courage; the formation of character sturdy enough to upbear a

    Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time Various 1905

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