rear (redirected from rearing its head)

at the rear of something

located at the back part of something. I keep my tools at the rear of my garage. There's a stream at the rear of my property.

bring up the rear

to move along behind everyone else; to be at the end of the line. (Originally referred to marching soldiers. Fixed order.) Here comes John, bringing up the rear. Hurry up, Tom! Why are you always bringing up the rear?

See also: bring, up

get off one's ass and get off one's rear; get off one's butt

Sl. to get up and get busy; to stop loafing and get to work. (Caution with ass. Butt is also offensive to some people.) Get off your ass and get busy! It's time you got off your butt and started to work.

See also: ass, get

in the rear

located in the space or area behind someone or something. The waiter told me that the bathrooms were in the rear. All deliveries must be made in the rear.

pain in the ass and a pain in the butt; a pain in the rear

Fig. a very annoying thing or person. (Crude. Potentially offensive. Use only with discretion. An elaboration of pain. Use caution with ass. Butt is less offensive. Rear is euphemistic.) That guy is a real pain in the ass. Things like that give me a pain in the butt.

See also: ass, pain

rear back 

1. Lit. [for a horse] to pull back and up onto its hind legs in an effort to move backwards rapidly or throw a rider. (See also rear up.) The animal reared back in terror. The horse reared back and almost threw its rider.

2. Fig. [for a person] to pull back and stand up or sit up straighter. He reared back in his chair and looked perturbed. Tom reared back in his chair, waiting for something else to happen.

See also: back

rear its ugly head

Fig. [for something unpleasant] to appear or become obvious after lying hidden. Jealousy reared its ugly head and destroyed their marriage. The question of money always rears its ugly head in matters of business.

See also: head, ugly

rear up 

1. Lit. [for a horse] to lean back on its hind legs and raise its front legs, assuming a threatening posture or avoiding something on the ground such as a snake. (See also rear back.) The horse reared up suddenly, throwing the rider onto the ground. When the horse reared up, I almost fell off.

2. Fig. [for something, especially a problem] to raise up suddenly. A new problem reared up and cost us a lot of time. A lot of new costs reared up toward the end of the month.

See also: up

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bring up the rear

to be at the back of a group of people who are walking or running Ceri was in the lead. Bringing up the rear, a mile or so down the road, was Simon.

See bring to heel, bring up with a start

See also: bring, up

raise/rear its (ugly) head

if something unpleasant raises its ugly head, it becomes a problem that people have to deal with All over Europe, racism is rearing its ugly head once more.

See also: head, raise

rear-end something   (American)

to cause an accident by hitting the back of the car in front of you His car was rear-ended while he was stopped at the light.

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bring up the rear

to be at the back of a group of people moving from one place to another They walked down the hall, with Ray bringing up the rear.

See also: bring, up

rear its (ugly) head

to become a problem that has to be dealt with It was in the 1970s that the problem of violent soccer fans first reared its head in Britain.

See also: head