Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To put up with; tolerate: synonym: endure.
  • intransitive verb To wait patiently for.
  • intransitive verb To remain in a place.
  • intransitive verb To continue in existence; endure.
  • intransitive verb To dwell or reside.
  • idiom (abide by) To conform to; comply with.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To pay the price or penalty of; suffer for.
  • To wait for; especially, to stand one's ground against.
  • To await; be in store for.
  • To endure or sustain; remain firm under.
  • To put up with; tolerate.
  • To encounter; undergo: in a jocular sense.
  • To have one's abode; dwell; reside.
  • To remain; continue to stay.
  • To continue in a certain condition; remain steadfast or faithful.
  • To wait; stop; delay.
  • To inhere; belong as an attribute or quality; have its seat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To wait for; to be prepared for; to await; to watch for.
  • transitive verb To endure; to sustain; to submit to.
  • transitive verb To bear patiently; to tolerate; to put up with.
  • transitive verb To stand the consequences of; to answer for; to suffer for.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To wait; to pause; to delay.
  • intransitive verb To stay; to continue in a place; to have one's abode; to dwell; to sojourn; -- with with before a person, and commonly with at or in before a place.
  • intransitive verb To remain stable or fixed in some state or condition; to continue; to remain.
  • intransitive verb To acquiesce; to conform to.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb put up with something or somebody unpleasant
  • verb dwell

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English abiden, from Old English ābīdan : ā-, intensive pref. + bīdan, to remain; see bheidh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English abiden, from Old English ābīdan ("to abide, wait, remain, delay, remain behind; survive; wait for, await; expect"), from Proto-Germanic *uzbīdanan (“to expect, tolerate”), equivalent to a- +‎ bide. Cognate with Scots abyde ("to abide, remain"), Middle High German erbīten ("to await, expect"), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌴𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (usbeidan, "to expect, await, have patience"). The sense of pay for is due to influence from aby.

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Examples

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  • But whoever has this worlds goods, and see his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

    1 John 3:17

    October 25, 2007

  • "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

    John 15:7

    October 25, 2007

  • The dude must abide.

    (The Dude)

    March 15, 2008

  • What's the past tense of this? Abode? Abade? Abid?

    August 8, 2008

  • I think the simple "abided" will work. No need to complicate things.

    August 8, 2008

  • Ask the Dude. He abides all the time.

    August 8, 2008

  • "You are all kindness, madam; but I believe we must <b> abide </b> by our original plan." - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    August 16, 2015