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forbear

verb
/fɔːˈbɛə/UK/fɔɹˈbɛɚ/US/ˈfɔː.bɛə/UK/ˈfɔɹ.bɛɚ/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Germanic *fra- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Germanic *beraną Proto-Germanic *fraberaną Old English forberan Middle English forberen English forbear From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan (“to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without”), from Proto-Germanic *fraberaną (“to hold back, endure”); equivalent to for- + bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera (“to forfeit”), Middle High German verbërn (“to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid”) (Cimbrian forbèeran), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (frabairan, “to endure”).

  1. inherited from *fraberaną✻
  2. inherited from forberan
  3. inherited from forberen

Definitions

  1. To keep away from

    To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from.

    • The earth shall soon dissolve like snow the sun forbear to shine
    • Poor Arabs wondered why I had no mare; I forbore to puzzle them by incomprehensible talk of hardening myself, or confess I would rather walk than ride for sparing of animals:

  2. To refrain from proceeding

    To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.

    • Por[tia]. I pray you tarrie, pauſe a day or two Before you hazard, for in chooſing wrong I looſe your companie ; therefore forbeare a while, /[...]
    • Then the king of Iſrael gathered the prophets together about foure hundred men, and ſaid vnto them, Shall I goe againſt Ramoth Gilead to battell, or ſhall I forbeare? [...]

  3. To refuse

    To refuse; to decline; to withsay; to unheed.

    • And thou ſhalt ſpeake my words vnto them, whether they will heare or whether they will forbeare, for they are moſt rebellious.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To control oneself when provoked.

      • The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear.

    2. Alternative spelling of forebear.

      • [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr. Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold …
      • One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at forbear. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01forbear02refuse03request04ask05require06need07indigence08destitution09abandoning10neglect

A definitional loop anchored at forbear. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at forbear

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA