forbear

WOTD – 28 July 2008    

English

Etymology 1

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”), Gothic  (frabairan, “to endure”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /fɔːˈbɛə/
• (US) IPA: /fɔɹˈbɛɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(r)

Verb

forbear (third-person singular simple present forbears, present participle forbearing, simple past forbore, past participle forborne)

1. (transitive) To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
2. (intransitive) To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
3. (intransitive) To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
4. (intransitive) To control oneself when provoked.

Related terms

• forbearance
• forbearant

Translations

to keep away from

• Basque: ez egin (eu)
• Dutch: zich onthouden (nl) n
• Finnish: estää (fi), välttää (fi)

• French: éviter (fr), s'abstenir (fr)
• Hungarian: tartózkodik (hu)
• Spanish: abstenerse (es)

to refrain from proceeding

• Finnish: estyä (fi)

• French: ajourner (fr), refréner (fr), réfréner (fr)

to give no heed

• Finnish: kieltäytyä (fi)

• French: refuser (fr), décliner (fr)

to control oneself when provoked

• Finnish: hillitä (fi) itsensä (fi), pidättyä (fi)
• French: se retenir (fr), garder son sang froid (fr)

• Spanish: retenerse (es)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfɔː.bɛə/
• (US) IPA: /ˈfɔɹ.bɛɹ/

Noun

forbear (plural forbears)

1. 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 [...]

   • [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [1]

     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.

   • 1997, H. L. Hix, Understanding W. S. Merwin [2]

     Beginning with the bald declaration “I think I was cold in the womb,” the speaker in “The Forbears” then decides that his brother (who died soon after birth) must also have been cold in the womb, like his grandfather John and the forbears who antedated John: