arrear

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɹɪə/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adverb

arrear (comparative more arrear, superlative most arrear)

1. (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 [...].

2. (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 [...].

Noun

arrear (plural arrears)

1. Work to be done, obligation.
   • (Can we date this quote by J. D. Forbes and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I have a large arrear of letters to write.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula

     My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all day to clear off.

2. Unpaid debt.
3. That which is in the rear or behind.

Translations

work to be done

• Dutch: achterstand (nl)
• Finnish: rästi (fi), rästityö, tekemätön työ
• French: arriéré (fr)
• Hungarian: elmaradás (hu), lemaradás (hu), restancia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Italian: arretrato (it)
• Russian: обязанность (ru) (objazannostʹ), завал (ru) m (zaval) (informal)
• Swedish: beting (sv) n, bakläxa c

unpaid debt

• Armenian: ապառք (hy) (apaṙkʻ)
• Danish: (udestående, ubetalt) gæld (da) c
• Dutch: achterstallige betaling
• Finnish: erääntynyt velka; verojäämä (tax debt)
• French: arriéré (fr)
• German: Rückstand (de) m, Zahlungsrückstand (de) m
• Hungarian: hátralék (hu), elmaradás (hu)
• Interlingue:
• Maori: utu tārewa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utestående, betalingsetterskudd, ubetalt gjeld m or f

• Portuguese: atrasdos m pl
• Russian: задолженность (ru) (zadolžennostʹ)
• Spanish: deuda vencida f
• Swedish: (återstående (sv), utestående (sv), obetald (sv)) skuld (sv) c, efterskott n
• Turkish: bakiye (tr), ödenmemiş borç

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Portuguese

Etymology

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Gothic.

Verb

1. (transitive) to harness (to place a harness on something)

Synonyms

• aparelhar

Derived terms

• arreio

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Spanish

Etymology

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Gothic *𐍂𐌴𐌸𐍃 (*rēþs, “advice”). Cognate with English array. Less likely from arre +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /areˈaɾ/ [a.reˈaɾ]

Verb

1. to urge
2. to harness
3. to drive (cattle), herd

Further reading

• “arrear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014