From Middle English bere (“barley”), from Old English bere (“barley”), from Proto-West Germanic *barī, from Proto-Germanic *baraz (“barley”). Compare Welsh bara (“bread”), Latin far (“emmer”), Serbo-Croatian бра̏шно/brȁšno (“flour”), Albanian bar (“grass”), Ancient Greek Φήρον (Phḗron, “plant deity”). See also: barley.
Meanings
(Scotland, uncountable) Barley, especially four-rowed barley or six-rowed barley.
de Futtergerste (six-rowed barley) · ga eorna bheag (six-rowed barley) · wa scweron (six-rowed barley) · fr escourgeon (six-rowed barley) · de Frühgerste (six-rowed barley)
bere en · NOUN · etymology 2
Pronunciation
/bɛə/ (UK)
/bɪə/ (UK)
/bɪɚ/ (US)
/bɛɚ/ (US)
Etymology
See bear (“pillowcase”)
Meanings
(dialectal) A pillowcase; a fabric case or covering as for a pillow; a pillowbere.
[...] he'd tossed me an extra pillow in a bere. 2014 April 1, Phil Rickman, The Heresy of Dr Dee, Atlantic Books, →ISBN:
Woven and embroidered coverlets in imitation of tapestry appear as 'a tapestry covering which lieth on my bed' [...] 'a pillow of feathers with a bere' (pillow-case); 'two pillows and the beres to [cover them]' 1976, Essex Record Office, Publications: