If something has a bearing on a situation or event, it is relevant to it.

Someone's bearing is the way in which they move or stand.

If you take a bearing with a compass, you use it to work out the direction in which a particular place lies or in which something is moving.

If you get your bearings or find your bearings, you find out where you are or what you should do next. If you lose your bearings, you do not know where you are or what you should do next.

Bearings are small metal balls that are placed between moving parts of a machine in order to make them move smoothly and easily over each other.