abear

English

Etymology

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈbɛə/, [əˈbɛː]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbɛɹ/, [əˈbɛɚ]
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Verb

abear (third-person singular simple present abears, present participle abearing, simple past abore, past participle aborn or aborne)

1. (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.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To bear; to carry. [10th–15th c.]
3. (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

• (endure): Used in the negative nowadays.

Derived terms

• abearance
• abearing

Noun

abear (plural abears)

1. (obsolete) Bearing, behavior. [14th–17th c.]

Anagrams

• Abare, Abaré, Areba, Raabe, abare