abide Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb dwell
    bide; stay.
    • You can stay with me while you are in town
    • stay a bit longer--the day is still young
  2. verb put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    stomach; brook; support; put up; tolerate; bear; endure; stick out; suffer; digest; stand.
    • I cannot bear his constant criticism
    • The new secretary had to endure a lot of unprofessional remarks
    • he learned to tolerate the heat
    • She stuck out two years in a miserable marriage

WordNet

A*bide" intransitive verb
Etymology
AS. abidan; pref. a- (cf. Goth. us-, G. er-, orig. meaning out) + bidan to bide. See Bide.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Abode formerly Abid present participle & verbal noun Abiding
Definitions
  1. To wait; to pause; to delay. Obs. Chaucer.
  2. To stay; to continue in a place; to have one's abode; to dwell; to sojourn; -- with with before a person, and commonly with at or in before a place.
    Let the damsel abide with us a few days. Gen. xxiv. 55.
  3. To remain stable or fixed in some state or condition; to continue; to remain.
    Let every man abide in the same calling. 1 Cor. vii. 20.
A*bide" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To wait for; to be prepared for; to await; to watch for; as, I abide my time. "I will abide the coming of my lord." Tennyson. [Obs.], with a personal object.
    Bonds and afflictions abide me. Acts xx. 23.
  2. To endure; to sustain; to submit to.
    [Thou] shalt abide her judgment on it. Tennyson.
  3. To bear patiently; to tolerate; to put up with.
    She could not abide Master Shallow. Shak.
  4. Confused with aby to pay for. See Aby. To stand the consequences of; to answer for; to suffer for.
    Dearly I abide that boast so vain. Milton.

Webster 1913