wear

[wair] /wɛər/
verb (used with object), wore, worn, wearing.
1.
to carry or have on the body or about the person as a covering, equipment, ornament, or the like:
to wear a coat; to wear a saber; to wear a disguise.
2.
to have or use on the person habitually:
to wear a wig.
3.
to bear or have in one's aspect or appearance:
to wear a smile; to wear an air of triumph.
4.
to cause (garments, linens, etc.) to deteriorate or change by wear:
Hard use has worn these gloves.
5.
to impair, deteriorate, or consume gradually by use or any continued process:
Long illness had worn the bloom from her cheeks.
6.
to waste or diminish gradually by rubbing, scraping, washing, etc.:
The waves have worn these rocks.
7.
to make (a hole, channel, way, etc.) by such action.
8.
to bring about or cause a specified condition in (a person or thing) by use, deterioration, or gradual change:
to wear clothes to rags; to wear a person to a shadow.
9.
to weary; fatigue; exhaust:
Toil and care soon wear the spirit.
10.
to pass (time) gradually or tediously (usually followed by away or out):
We wore the afternoon away in arguing.
11.
Nautical. to bring (a vessel) on another tack by turning until the wind is on the stern.
12.
British Dialect. to gather and herd (sheep or cattle) to a pen or pasture.
verb (used without object), wore, worn, wearing.
13.
to undergo gradual impairment, diminution, reduction, etc., from wear, use, attrition, or other causes (often followed by away, down, out, or off).
14.
to retain shape, color, usefulness, value, etc., under wear, use, or any continued strain:
a strong material that will wear; colors that wear well.
15.
(of time) to pass, especially slowly or tediously (often followed by on or away):
As the day wore on, we had less and less to talk about.
16.
to have the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate, especially after a relatively long association:
It's hard to get to know him, but he wears well.
17.
Nautical. (of a vessel) to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind.
18.
Obsolete. to be commonly worn; to be in fashion.
noun
19.
the act of wearing; use, as of a garment: articles for winter wear; I've had a lot of wear out of this coat;
I had to throw away the shirt after only three wears.
20.
the state of being worn, as on the person.
21.
clothing or other articles for wearing; especially when fashionable or appropriate for a particular function (often used in combination):
travel wear; sportswear.
22.
gradual impairment, wasting, diminution, etc., as from use:
The carpet shows wear.
23.
the quality of resisting deterioration with use; durability.
Verb phrases
24.
wear down,
  1. to reduce or impair by long wearing:
    to wear down the heels of one's shoes.
  2. to weary; tire:
    His constant talking wears me down.
  3. to prevail by persistence; overcome:
    to wear down the opposition.
25.
wear off, to diminish slowly or gradually or to diminish in effect; disappear:
The drug began to wear off.
26.
wear out,
  1. to make or become unfit or useless through hard or extended use:
    to wear out clothes.
  2. to expend, consume, or remove, especially slowly or gradually.
  3. to exhaust, as by continued strain; weary:
    This endless bickering is wearing me out.
Idioms
27.
wear thin,
  1. to diminish; weaken:
    My patience is wearing thin.
  2. to become less appealing, interesting, tolerable, etc.:
    childish antics that soon wore thin.
Origin
before 900; (v.) Middle English weren to have (clothes) on the body, waste, damage, suffer waste or damage, Old English werian; cognate with Old Norse verja, Gothic wasjan to clothe; (noun) late Middle English were act of carrying on the body, derivative of the v.; akin to Latin vestis clothing (see vest)
Related forms
wearer, noun
rewear, verb, rewore, reworn, rewearing.
Synonyms
26c. tire, fatigue, drain.
British Dictionary definitions for wear off

wear off

verb (adverb)
1.
(intransitive) to decrease in intensity gradually: the pain will wear off in an hour
2.
to disappear or cause to disappear gradually through exposure, use, etc: the pattern on the ring had been worn off

wear1

/wɛə/
verb wears, wearing, wore, worn
1.
(transitive) to carry or have (a garment, etc) on one's person as clothing, ornament, etc
2.
(transitive) to carry or have on one's person habitually: she wears a lot of red
3.
(transitive) to have in one's aspect: to wear a smile
4.
(transitive) to display, show, or fly: a ship wears its colours
5.
to deteriorate or cause to deteriorate by constant use or action
6.
to produce or be produced by constant rubbing, scraping, etc: to wear a hole in one's trousers
7.
to bring or be brought to a specified condition by constant use or action: to wear a tyre to shreds
8.
(intransitive) to submit to constant use or action in a specified way: his suit wears well
9.
(transitive) to harass or weaken
10.
when intr, often foll by on. (of time) to pass or be passed slowly
11.
(transitive) (Brit, slang) to accept: Larry won't wear that argument
12.
wear ship, to change the tack of a sailing vessel, esp a square-rigger, by coming about so that the wind passes astern
noun
13.
the act of wearing or state of being worn
14.
  1. anything designed to be worn: leisure wear
  2. (in combination): nightwear
15.
deterioration from constant or normal use or action
16.
the quality of resisting the effects of constant use
See also wear down, wear off, wear out
Derived Forms
wearer, noun
Word Origin
Old English werian; related to Old High German werien, Old Norse verja, Gothic vasjan

wear2

/wɛə/
verb wears, wearing, wore, worn
1.
(nautical) to tack by gybing instead of by going through stays
Word Origin
C17: from earlier weare, of unknown origin

Wear

/wɪə/
noun
1.
a river in NE England, rising in NW Durham and flowing southeast then northeast to the North Sea at Sunderland. Length: 105 km (65 miles)
Word Origin and History for wear off

wear

v.

Old English werian "to clothe, put on," from Proto-Germanic *wazjanan (cf. Old Norse verja, Old High German werian, Gothic gawasjan "to clothe"), from PIE *wes- "to clothe" (cf. Sanskrit vaste "he puts on," vasanam "garment;" Avestan vah-; Greek esthes "clothing," hennymi "to clothe," eima "garment;" Latin vestire "to clothe;" Welsh gwisgo, Breton gwiska; Old English wæstling "sheet, blanket;" Hittite washshush "garments," washanzi "they dress").

The Germanic forms "were homonyms of the vb. for 'prevent, ward off, protect' (Goth. warjan, O.E. werian, etc.), and this was prob. a factor in their early displacement in most of the Gmc. languages" [Buck]. Shifted from a weak verb (past tense and past participle wered) to a strong one (past tense wore, past participle worn) in 14c. on analogy of rhyming strong verbs such as bear and tear.

Secondary sense of "use up, gradually damage" (late 13c.) is from effect of continued use on clothes. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s.

n.

"action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1570s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use."

Idioms and Phrases with wear off

wear off

Diminish gradually, lose effectiveness, as in We'll wait till the drug wears off. [ Late 1600s ]

wear

also see:
Encyclopedia Article for wear off

wear

the removal of material from a solid surface as a result of mechanical action exerted by another solid. Wear chiefly occurs as a progressive loss of material resulting from the mechanical interaction of two sliding surfaces under load. Wear is such a universal phenomenon that rarely do two solid bodies slide over each other or even touch each other without a measurable material transfer or material loss. Thus, coins become worn as a result of continued contact with fabrics and human fingers; pencils become worn after sliding over paper; and rails become worn as a result of the continued rolling of train wheels over them. Only living things (such as bone joints) are in some sense immune to the permanent damage caused by wear, since they have the property of regrowth and healing

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