abear
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English aberen, from Old English āberan (“to bear, carry, carry away”), from ā- (“away, out”), a- + beran (“to bear”), from Proto-Germanic *uzberaną (“to bear off, bring forth, produce”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”), equivalent to a- + bear. Cognate with Old High German irberan, Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (usbairan).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /əˈbɛə/, [əˈbɛː]
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /əˈbɛɹ/, [əˈbɛɚ]
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Verb edit
abear (third-person singular simple present abears, present participle abearing, simple past abore, past participle aborn or aborne)
- (transitive, now rare, dialectal) To put up with; to endure; to bear. [from 9th c.]
- 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
- Hunder-cook, indeed! which it's what I never abore yet, and never will abear.
- 1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 6, in Lud-in-the-Mist[2], London: Millennium, published 2000, page 68:
- And he seems sweet on Miss Hazel though she can’t abear him, though when I ask her about him she snaps my head off and tells me to mind my own business.
- (transitive, obsolete) To bear; to carry. [10th–15th c.]
- (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To behave; to comport oneself. [16th–17th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12:
- So did the Faerie knight himselfe abeare, / And stouped oft his head from shame to shield […]
Usage notes edit
- (endure): Used in the negative nowadays.
Derived terms edit
Noun edit
abear (plural abears)
- (obsolete) Bearing, behavior. [14th–17th c.]