bear n NID bearberry n 2 'American cranberry'; DAE ~ trap (1825-).
   Comb bearberry: (a) variety of cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos); MARSH BERRY (1898 N S Inst Sci ix, 382); (b) PARTRIDGE BERRY (Mitchella repens) (P 94-57).
   1932 POLUNIN 51 There was a profusion of bearberries and other fruits not yet ripe-many, with numerous herbs, were still in flower. C 69-5 He asked him how he had got on with the bearberries (partridge berries) when he was out on Easter Head. 1971 NOSEWORTRY 172 [Bearberries are] like cranberries.
   bear house: enclosure concealing a weapon to dispatch a trapped bear.
   [1785] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 101 Mr Collingham, after mooring the shallop, walked to the head of Martin's Cove, and built a bear-house to tail a gun in.
   bear trap: device to trap a bear.
   [1771] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 180 I also carried two of the traps which were on the barrens, into the wood by Long Pool, and tailed the beartrap at the path end, by the river. 1977 Inuit Land Use 215 A bear trap is rarely set unless certain signs of bear have been observed.

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