forbear

Pronunciation: /fɔːˈbɛə/

The English word “forbear” has 4 meanings listed here.

verb

To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from.
To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
To refuse; to decline; to withsay; to unheed.
To control oneself when provoked.

Etymology

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”) (Cimbrian forbèeran), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.