sufferance

English

Alternative forms

• sufferaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sufferaunce, from Anglo-Norman suffraunce, from Late Latin sufferentia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌf(ə)ɹəns/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

sufferance (countable and uncountable, plural sufferances)

1. (archaic) Endurance, especially patiently, of pain or adversity.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 84:

     At length when as he ſaw her haſtie heat / Abate, and panting breath begin to fayle, / He through long ſufferãce growing now more great, / Roſe in his strength, and gan her freſh aſſayle, [...]

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 115:

     I indulged in this meditation for a moment, and then again addressed the mourner, who stood leaning against the bed with that expression of resigned despair, of complete misery, and a patient sufferance of it, which is far more touching than any of the insane ravings or wild gesticulation of untamed sorrow.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46:

     In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass. [...] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance; they were received with distance and suspicion.

2. Acquiescence or tacit compliance with some circumstance, behavior, or instruction.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 34, page 241:

     [M]oſt wretched man, / That to affections does the bridle lend; / In their beginning they are weake and wan, / But ſoone through ſuff'rance growe to fearefull end; [...]

   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Somewhiles by sufferance, and somewhiles by special leave and favour, they erected to themselves oratories.

   • 1910, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 20, in Lady Good-for-Nothing:

     When his talk trespasses beyond sufferance, I chastise him.

3. (archaic) Suffering; pain, misery.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 37, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     The sufferances which simply touch us in minde, doe much lesse afflict me, then most men [...].

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 214, column 2:

     Fortune, do diuorce / It from the bearer, 'tis a ſufferance, panging / As ſoule and bodies ſeuering.

   • 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza CXLVII, page 192:

     [T]he streak / Of sufferance yet upon his forehead lay, / Where the blue veins look'd shadowy, shrunk, and weak; [...]

4. (obsolete) Loss; damage; injury.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 21:

     The deſperate Tempeſt has ſo bang'd the Turke, / That their deſignement halts; Another ſhippe of Venice hath ſeene / A greeuous wracke and ſufferance / On moſt part of the Fleete.

5. (British, historical) A permission granted by the customs authorities for the shipment of goods.

Synonyms

• acquiesce

Related terms

• on sufferance

References

The noun sufferance is listed in following dictionaries:

• sufferance in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “sufferance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sufferance”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “sufferance” in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
• “sufferance”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “sufferance” in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “sufferance”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “sufferance” at Rhymezone (Datamuse, 2006).