Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Forbear
For-bear′
(fŏr-bâr′)
, Verb.
I.
[
imp.
Forbore
(Forbare
, [Obs.]
); p. p.
Forborne
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Forbearing
.] 1.
To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I
forbear
? 1 Kings xxii. 6.
2.
To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will
forbear
. Ezek. ii. 7.
3.
To control one’s self when provoked.
The kindest and the happiest pair
Will find occasion to
Will find occasion to
forbear
. Cowper.
Both bear and
forbear
. Old Proverb.
For-bear′
,Verb.
T.
1.
To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up;
as, to
. forbear
the use of a word of doubtful proprietyBut let me that plunder
forbear
. Shenstone.
The King
In open battle or the tilting field
In open battle or the tilting field
Forbore
his own advantage. Tennyson.
2.
To treat with consideration or indulgence.
Forbearing
one another in love. Eph. iv. 2.
3.
To cease from bearing.
[Obs.]
Whenas my womb her burden would
forbear
. Spenser.
Webster 1828 Edition
Forbear
FORBEAR
,Verb.
I.
1.
To stop; to cease; to hold from proceeding; as, forbear to repeat these reproachful words.2.
To pause; to delay; as, forbear a while.3.
To abstain; to omit; to hold one's self from motion or entering on an affair.Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? 1Kings 22.
4.
To refuse; to decline.Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Ezek. 2.
5.
To be patient; to restrain from action or violence. Prov. 25:15.FORBEAR
,Verb.
T.
1.
To avoid voluntarily; to decline.Forbear his presence.
2.
To abstain from; to omit; to avoid doing. Learn from the scriptures what you ought to do and what to forbear.Have we not power to forbear working? 1Cor. 9.
3.
To spare; to treat with indulgence and patience.Forbearing one another in love. Eph. 4.
4.
To withhold.Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. 2Chron. 35.
Definition 2024
forbear
forbear
English
Pronunciation
Verb
forbear (third-person singular simple present forbears, present participle forbearing, simple past forbore, past participle forborne)
- (transitive) To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
- (intransitive) To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
- Bible, 1 Kings xxii. 6
- Shall I go […] to battle, or shall I forbear?
- Bible, 1 Kings xxii. 6
- (intransitive) To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
- Bible, Ezekiel ii. 7
- Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
- Bible, Ezekiel ii. 7
- (intransitive) To control oneself when provoked.
- Cowper
- The kindest and the happiest pair / Will find occasion to forbear.
- Old proverb
- Both bear and forbear.
- Cowper
Related terms
Translations
to keep away from
|
to refrain from proceeding
to control oneself when provoked
|
|
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
Noun
forbear (plural forbears)
- 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
- 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
- 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:
- [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.