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Bearings

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Iʹll bring him to his bearings. Iʹll bring him to his senses. A sea term. The bearings of a ship at anchor is that part of her hull which is on the water-line when she is in good trim. To bring a ship to her bearings is to get her into this trim. (Dana: The Seaman’s Manual, 84.)

To lose one’s bearings. To become bewildered; to get perplexed as to which is the right road.

To take the bearings. To ascertain the relative position of some object.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Bear (To)
Bear of Bradwardine (The)
Bear Account (A)
Bear Garden
Bear-leader
Bears are caught by Honey
Beard
Beard (To)
Bearded
Bearded Women:
Bearings
Bearnais (Le)
Beasts (Heraldic):
Beastly Drunk
Beat
Beat (To)
Beat (To)
Beat. (French, abattre, to abate.)
Beaten to a Mummy
Beaten with his own Staff
Beating about the Bush