Dictionary

arctic bear en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A polar bear.
   • In the front parlour, was an immense arctic bear, of a white colour, and a winged animal, much injured by time, but which appeared to have been an eagle. 1826, The Percy anecdotes - Volume 10, page 123:
   • Still nearer the pole, the arctic bear reigns the mighty tyrant of the frozen solitude. 1824, Time's Telescope for 1824 ; Or, A Complete Guide to the Almanack, page ci:
   • The white bear, polar bear, or arctic bear, (Ursus maritimus, or Ursus arcticus), is a migrating animal. 1832 -, The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia - Volume 10, page 103:
   • The species of man in the temperate zone are not, like arctic bears or bears of Borneo, confined to any province. 1860, A Familiar Forensic View of Man and Law, page 70:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Arctic, bear.
   • Bears are the largest living carnivores, and the two largest species, polar bears and grizzly bears, are both inhabitants of the Arctic. [...] In open country, with nowhere to hide, attack is the obvious method of defense, especailly for animals with the speed and enormous strength of the two arctic bears. 2012, E. C. Pielou, A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic, →ISBN, page 257:

Forms