noun the stomach. Suggested derivations all seem based on the body as a machine. However, it is possible that this is from a sense of disorientation after vomiting, thus confusing the losing of the contents of your stomach with a loss of bearings AUSTRALIA, 1943.► too many bearings on ita situation too complicated to explain. This phrase uses a nautical term for location-finding, 'bearings' (i.e. from a compass), metaphorically CANADA, 1999