abode

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English abod, also abad,^[2][3] a verbal noun from Middle English abiden (“to wait, abide”),^[4][3][5][6] with the same change of vowel as in the past tense of that verb,^[3][4] as in ride and rode.^[7][4] That verb goes back to Old English ābīdan, the source of abide.^[3][8] The OED, in its revised entry, sees the word as an alteration of an older noun bode, a stay or delay, by association with abide;^[9] Merriam-Webster likewise takes it from bade, bode (“stay, delay”), going back to bād (“expectation, period of waiting”), crossed with abiden,^[10] and the MED compares both words.^[2] Hoad also explains the noun from abiden after bād, waiting.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of waiting, delay, especially in the phrase without abode, immediately: about 1225, in the Middle English life of Saint Juliana.^[9][2] Barnhart dates the form abad to probably about 1200 and abod to about 1300,^[3] and Etymonline dates the sense "action of waiting" to the mid-13th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant waiting or delay, and Chaucer used it so: in Troilus and Criseyde such delays are "nought worth an hawe".^[2][12] From before 1400 it also meant a temporary stay in a place, a sojourn,^[9] and, after about 1450, permanent residence, as in place of abode.^[9] The sense "a dwelling place, a house or home" followed in 1549;^[9] Barnhart and Etymonline date the extended sense "habitual residence, dwelling" to 1576 and the 1570s.^[3][4] The original sense "delay" died out by about 1700;^[9] The Merchant of Venice still has "Your patience for my long abode".^[13] Johnson (1755) gave "habitation, dwelling, place of residence" as the first sense.^[14] The phrase no fixed abode, often in legal contexts, is recorded from 1582.^[9] In the 16th century Puttenham also used abode as a name for the rhetorical practice of dwelling on a point (1589).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – waiting, delay, and without abode, immediately (obsolete by 1700).^[9][2]
• before 1400 – a temporary stay in a place, a sojourn.^[9]
• c. 1450 – permanent residence, as in place of abode.^[9]
• 1549 – a dwelling place, a house or home.^[9] Barnhart dates the sense to 1576.^[3]
• 1582 – no fixed abode, no place of permanent residence.^[9]
• 1589 – Puttenham's name for dwelling on a point in rhetoric (obsolete).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A home or the place where one lives; a dwelling: The old mill became their abode for the summer.^[15][10][5]
2. A stay in a place, a sojourn; continued residence: during his abode in Rome.^[10][5][9]
3. no fixed abode: no permanent address, especially in legal use.^[9][13]
4. (obsolete, 1225–1700) The act of waiting; delay.^[9][10][13]

Related words

• abide
• bide
• bode

Usage notes

Abode is also a past tense and past participle of abide.^[5][16] An obsolete verb abode, to presage or forebode (1573), and a noun abode, an omen (1598), have a separate source: they are probably formed from the past forms of an older verb abede, influenced by bode.^[9][10][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.