arrear

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[edit] English

From Old French arere, ariere, from Vulgar Latin ad retro (“to the rear”).

arrear (comparative more arrear, superlative most arrear)

(obsolete) Towards the rear, backwards. [14th-16th c.]
- 1591, Edmund Spenser, Virgil's Gnat, ll. 465-8:
  
  She, (Ladie) having well before approoved / The feends to be too cruell and severe, / Observ'd th' appointed way, as her behooved, / Ne ever did her ey-sight turne arere [...].
(obsolete) Behind time; overdue. [15th-19th c.]
- 1803, Edward Hyde East, Reports of cases Argued and determined in the Court of King's Bench, London 1814, vol. 3, p. 559:
  
  In case the annuity should be arrear for sixty days being lawfully demanded, then the trustee might enter upon the premises assigned [...].

arrear (plural arrears)

Work to be done, obligation.

I have a large arrear of letters to write. -- J. D. Forbes.

My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all day to clear off. -- Stoker, Dracula
Unpaid debt.

work to be done

unpaid debt

arrear (first-person singular present arreo, first-person singular preterite arreé, past participle arreado)

Conjugation of arrear (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)