Definition of "bear down" []

• Used other than as an idiom: see bear,‎ down. (verb)
• To approach from windward. (verb)
• To intensify one's efforts. (verb)
• To approach in a determined manner. (verb)
• To exert downward pressure on one's abdomen, as in giving birth, forcing out feces, and some similar bodily maneuvers. (verb)

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• "Forming a right angle with the ice, the rock wall on my left allowed me to make stemming maneuvers; using counterpressure, I could more confidently bear down on the crampon points of my right foot, where they were embedded in the ice."
• "Dr.C. J. Egan, who makes this statement,94 adds: ` ` The Kaffir position is a very good one, and the woman has full power to bear down and assist her pains."
• "Like the sword of Coeur De Lion, which always blazed in the front and thickest of the battle, Sam's palm-leaf was to be seen everywhere when there was the least danger that a horse could be caught; there he would bear down full tilt, shouting, "Now for it! cotch him! cotch him!" in a way that would set everything to indiscriminate rout in a moment."