Other forms: bearing down; borne down; bears down
To bear down is to close in on or move toward deliberately, sometimes in a threatening way. If a hurricane threatens to bear down on your town, it's time to evacuate!
The phrase bear down is useful for describing something menacing or aggressive that's pressing in on you. This can be literal, like a defensive lineman bearing down on the player holding the football, or figurative, like the anxiety that bears down on you as you stand up to read a poem in front of your English class. The term is also used to describe applying full force or attention to something. It was originally used in a nautical sense, meaning "proceed forcefully toward something" in a boat.