abide

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English abiden,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ābīdan (“to remain, wait”),^[2][5][6] inherited from Proto-Germanic *uzbīdaną.^[7] The Old English verb is formed from the prefix ā- and bīdan (“to remain, wait”), whence bide;^[2][5][3][8] according to Barnhart, it absorbed around 1000 the similar compound onbīdan (“to stay on”).^[4] The prefix is called intensive by the American Heritage Dictionary,^[2] perfective by Merriam-Webster,^[3] and "onwards" by the Oxford Dictionary of English.^[8] It is cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌴𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (usbeidan, “to await, expect”) and Old High German irbītan (“to wait, wait for, withstand”).^{[9][5][6][10]} The simple verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *bīdaną,^[7][11] which Orel and Ayto compare with Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be persuaded, obey”) and Latin fīdō (“to trust”);^[11][12] the American Heritage Dictionary gives the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To wait for or await; to wait, delay; and to remain, stay: all three senses are recorded in Old English, the first in the West Saxon Gospels.^[9] Barnhart dates Middle English abiden to probably before 1200.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the verb was intransitive, and what was waited for stood in the genitive; transitive senses followed.^[13] By about 1200 it could also mean to endure or withstand something, and to tolerate it,^[13] which the OED records as "to face in combat" and "to submit to" from about 1275.^[9] The sense "to tolerate, put up with" became chiefly negative or interrogative, as in can't abide, from the late 15th century,^[6][14] and Wright found the verb in general dialect use across Great Britain and Ireland.^[15] Abide with, to stay with or live with someone, dates from about 1300.^[13] The senses "wait" and "stay" are now rare or archaic, and the OED notes that abide grew apart in meaning from bide in the standard language.^[9] When Shakespeare wrote "some will dear abide it" in Julius Caesar, meaning "pay for it", the verb had been confused with the obsolete abye, to pay a penalty.^[14][6] The strong past abode was more common than abided in the late 19th century, but is now chiefly archaic or literary.^[9][13]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English ābīdan, to wait for; to remain (West Saxon Gospels).^[4][9]
• before 1200 – Middle English abiden.^[4]
• c. 1200 – to endure, withstand; to tolerate.^[13]
• c. 1225 – of things, to await, be in store for.^[9]
• c. 1275 – to face in combat; to submit to.^[9]
• c. 1300 – abide with, to stay or live with.^[13]
• late 15th century – to tolerate, in negative contexts.^[6]
• 1755 – Johnson's first sense: to dwell in a place.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tolerate or put up with, usually in the negative: He could not abide loud music.^[17][2][6]
2. To accept or submit to: to abide the court's decision.^[17][6]
3. abide by: to comply with a rule or decision, or remain faithful to a promise.^[17][3]
4. To remain or continue; to last: The memory abides.^[17][2]
5. (archaic) To dwell or live in a place.^[17][2][6]
6. (archaic) To wait for; to await.^[17][3][2]
7. (archaic) To withstand or face: to abide the attack.^[17][3][6]
8. (obsolete, Middle English–early 18th century) To suffer or undergo hardship.^[6][3]

Word family

• abider
• abidance

Related words

• law-abiding
• bide
• abode
• abiding
• abye

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins