rear

1 syllable

Quick answer

As a verb, rear means bring up to maturity, as offspring. As an adjective, it means being behind, or in the hindmost part.

Meanings of rear

30 meanings

To bring up to maturity, as offspring; to educate; to instruct; to foster.
To breed and raise.
“The family has been rearing cattle for 200 years.”
To rise up on the hind legs
“The horse was shocked, and thus reared.”
usually with "up"To get angry.
To rise high above, tower above.
literaryTo raise physically or metaphorically; to lift up; to cause to rise, to elevate.
“Poverty reared its ugly head. (appeared, started, began to have an effect)”
“The monster slowly reared its head.”
To place in the rear; to secure the rear of.
vulgarUKTo sodomize (perform anal sex)
To move; stir.
of geeseTo carve.
“Rear that goose!”
Look after a child until it is an adult
“raise a family”
“bring up children”
Similar: raise, bring up, nurture, parent
Construct, build, or erect
“Raise a barn”
Similar: raise, erect, set up, put up

Older and rare meanings (5)

rareTo construct by building; to set up
“to rear defenses or houses”
“to rear one government on the ruins of another.”
rareTo raise spiritually; to lift up; to elevate morally.
obsoleteTo lift and take up.
obsoleteTo rouse; to strip up.
regionalobsoleteTo revive, bring to life, quicken. (only in the phrase, to rear to life)
“He healeth the blind and he reareth to life the dead. (Speculum Sacerdotale c. 15th century)”

Being behind, or in the hindmost part; hindmost
“the rear rank of a company”
“sit in the rear seats of a car”
now chiefly dialectal(of eggs) Underdone; nearly raw.
chiefly us(of meats) Rare.
Located in or toward the back or rear
“the chair's rear legs”
“the rear door of the plane”
“on the rearward side”
Similar: rearward

The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last in order.
militarySpecifically, the part of an army or fleet which comes last, or is stationed behind the rest.
anatomyThe buttocks or bottom.
The back of a military formation or procession
“infantrymen were in the rear”
The side of an object that is opposite its frontlocation
“his room was toward the rear of the hotel”
Similar: backside, back end
The part of something that is furthest from the normal viewerlocation
“he stood at the back of the stage”
“it was hidden in the rear of the store”
Similar: back
The fleshy part of the human body that you sit onbody
“he deserves a good kick in the butt”
“are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?”
Similar: buttocks, nates, arse, butt, backside, bum
The side that goes last or is not normally seen
“he wrote the date on the back of the photograph”
Similar: back