ABIDE
Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:55 pm
• abide •
Pronunciation: ê-baid • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive & transitive
Meaning: 1. (Intransitive) To live in the sense of dwell, to reside. 2. (Intransitive) To continue in existence, to exist unchanged in some state. 3. (Transitive) To tolerate, put up with, endure.
Notes: Historically the past participle of this word was abidden but the past participle assimilated with the past tense a century or so ago, so now this verb is conjugated abide, abode, (has) abode. However, since this latter form is now used for the noun (an abode), the verb seems to be converting to a regular verb: abide, abided, (has) abided. This trend will continue if this seldom used verb itself survives.
In Play: Today's poetic word has pretty much been replaced by the simpler verb (to) live in colloquial speech but remains for those unafraid of touching up their conversations with a bit of poetry: "How Lester can abide in such a hovel as he inhabits is beyond explication." The transitive sense of this verb is a more fetching substitute for stand or tolerate: "I simply cannot abide the skimpy skirts girls wear to school these days; I wish they would return to uniforms!"
Word History: Today's Good Word is a rarity, indeed: a genuine unborrowed English word. It came to us from the Old English verb abidan, comprising a-, an intensifier prefix + bidan "to remain". The same root that came through the Germanic languages to English as bidan emerged in Latin as fidere "to trust, confide" and fidus "faithful (remain unchanged)". Words with the Latin root were borrowed en mass by English in words like fiancé, affidavit, fiduciary, and confide. (We simply could not abide forgetting to thank Jaime Jamison for suggesting today's Good Word.)
Pronunciation: ê-baid • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive & transitive
Meaning: 1. (Intransitive) To live in the sense of dwell, to reside. 2. (Intransitive) To continue in existence, to exist unchanged in some state. 3. (Transitive) To tolerate, put up with, endure.
Notes: Historically the past participle of this word was abidden but the past participle assimilated with the past tense a century or so ago, so now this verb is conjugated abide, abode, (has) abode. However, since this latter form is now used for the noun (an abode), the verb seems to be converting to a regular verb: abide, abided, (has) abided. This trend will continue if this seldom used verb itself survives.
In Play: Today's poetic word has pretty much been replaced by the simpler verb (to) live in colloquial speech but remains for those unafraid of touching up their conversations with a bit of poetry: "How Lester can abide in such a hovel as he inhabits is beyond explication." The transitive sense of this verb is a more fetching substitute for stand or tolerate: "I simply cannot abide the skimpy skirts girls wear to school these days; I wish they would return to uniforms!"
Word History: Today's Good Word is a rarity, indeed: a genuine unborrowed English word. It came to us from the Old English verb abidan, comprising a-, an intensifier prefix + bidan "to remain". The same root that came through the Germanic languages to English as bidan emerged in Latin as fidere "to trust, confide" and fidus "faithful (remain unchanged)". Words with the Latin root were borrowed en mass by English in words like fiancé, affidavit, fiduciary, and confide. (We simply could not abide forgetting to thank Jaime Jamison for suggesting today's Good Word.)
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