I. ˈba(a)(ə)r, ˈbe(ə)r, ˈba(a)ə, ˈbeə adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bær; akin to Old High German bar naked, Old Norse berr, Lithuanian basas barefoot, Armenian bok
1.
a. : lacking its natural covering (as of hair, flesh, bark, or foliage)
a stroke that left the bone bare
a bare hillside
trees standing gaunt and bare
a bare scalp
b.
(1) : lacking clothing : uncovered
expose a bare back to the sun
walk in bare feet
(2) obsolete : bareheaded
c.
(1) : lacking its customary or appropriate covering (as of paint or carpets)
bare aluminum gutters
a bare floor
(2) : lacking armor or weapons : unarmed — usually used in the phrase bare hands or the word bare-handed
fought and killed him with bare hands
(3) of cloth : threadbare
(4) of a sword : unsheathed
and bare was the Niblung sword — William Morris
(5) of a ship's mast : having no sails set
rode out the storm with bare poles
d. obsolete : laid waste or desolate
2. : exposed or open to view or comprehension — often used in the phrase lay bare
lays bare with admirable simplicity the essentials of the problem
laid bare the innermost secrets of the society
3.
a. : lacking the usual or appropriate furnishings, equipment, or contents : empty : unfurnished or scantily supplied
tenant farmers who live in bare shacks — American Guide Series: Texas
a bare room, dusty and cold
b. : destitute , needy , lacking — usually used with of
a house bare of all comforts save the devotion of the parents
deny the right to livelihood of individuals bare of all legal protection — Robert Lekachman
4.
a. : having nothing left over or added
a bare living
the bare dinner of potatoes — Lewis Mumford
: minimum
the bare necessities of life
: mere
the father drowned … when Nathan was a bare two years old — Mary S. Watts
rage … at the bare idea that the tenant of a furnished house should interfere with the owner's timber — F.M.Ford
b. : having no more or little more than essentials : devoid of amplification or of adornment, refinement, or polish : severely plain : austere
state the bare truth
the bare folk tale, a simple narration of some happening or action — R.A.Hall b. 1911
a bare outline of a novelette
c. : scanty , meager
only a bare portion of the available gold was being secured — Irving Stone
5. obsolete : worthless , paltry , inadequate
6. bridge : unaccompanied by others of the same suit
a bare king
hold the ace bare
Synonyms:
bare , naked , nude , bald , barren all indicate lack of some usual covering, shrouding, or overlaying. In reference to bodily matters, bare usually describes bodily parts, indicates simply an unclothed or uncovered condition, and lacks especial connotation
maidens whose bare feet make no sound — Lafcadio Hearn
legs bare or swathed from the knee to the ankle — Edna S. V. Millay
naked usually indicates complete lack of clothing; it may suggest a primitive or natural condition, rare and complete beauty, pitiful destitution, or wanton and shameless exhibitionism
a boy and an old man — both islanders, the former nearly naked and the latter dressed in an old naval frock coat — Herman Melville
a radiant spirit arose all beautiful in naked purity — P.B.Shelley
hunt for food and be a naked man — S.T.Coleridge
down with Reticence, down with Reverence — forward — naked — let them stare — Alfred Tennyson
Especial connotations are lacking for nude , a synonym more sophisticated and less common before the 20th century, except that it is frequently used in relation to artistic productions
standing before a picture of nude beauty — P.E.More
In reference to bodily matters bald also lacks especial connotation. In other contexts bare stresses a lack of some covering, furniture, addition, or amplification usually expected
the house seemed bare and cold, a bareness scarcely modified by the few old pieces of furniture — Mary Austin
scorched and blackened by the long summer, the country was as bare as a conquered province after the march of an invader — Ellen Glasgow
the bare statement that “art is useless” is so vague as to be really meaningless, if not inaccurate and misleading — Havelock Ellis
naked strongly suggests exposure or revelation
it is not asked that poetry should offer naked argument and skeleton plans — C.D.Lewis
numberless naked, detached coral formations are seen, just emerging, as it were, from the ocean — Herman Melville
bald indicates absence of natural covering, particularly on the top of something
Texas, spanning a widely divergent region between the lush green coastal prairies and a semiarid trans-Pecos expanse of bald hills — American Guide Series: Texas
It may also imply severe curt plainness and lack of adornment
he invented no fancy phrases to decorate a bald fact — Agnes Repplier
lend verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative — W.S.Gilbert
barren stresses lack of natural covering
the country was barren and rocks stuck up through the clay. There was no grass — Ernest Hemingway
Otherwise it suggests impoverishment or fruitlessness
my life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not had much time for friendships — Bram Stoker
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English baren, from Old English barian; causative from the root of English bare (I)
: to make or lay bare : uncover , reveal
bare his back to the sun
bare her teeth in a smile
bares the remote origins of bolshevism — S.T.Possony
demanding that men bare their private opinion or else go to jail — Herbert Agar
Synonyms: see strip
III. adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from bare, adjective
obsolete : barely
IV.
archaic
past of bear