Forms: 1 bídan, 2–6 biden, 3– bide; also 3–6 byde(n, 4 bidde, 5 Sc. byd. Pa. t. 1 bád, pl. bidon, 3–5 bad(e, pl. 2–4 biden, 3–6 bod, 4–5 bood, 5 boode, 6–7 boad, 3– bode; 6 bid, 7– bided; also north. 3–4 badd, 3–6 baid, 4 badde, 5 bayd, 6 bed, 8 bade. Pa. pple. 1–4 biden, 4–7 bidden, 6 bid; also 3–4 biden, 4–6 bydden, 5 beddyn, 6 byden, 9 dial. bodden. [Com. Teut.: OE. bídan (pa. t. bád, bidon; pple. biden) = OS. bîdan (MDu. bîden), OHG. bîtan (MHG. bîtan, mod. dial. G. beiten), ON. bíða, Goth. beidan:—OTeut. *bîdan to wait. Mostly replaced in mod.Eng. by its compound ABIDE, but regularly preserved in northern Eng. and Sc., and also employed by 19th c. poets, partly perhaps as an archaism, partly as an aphetized form of abide.]
I. intr.
1. To remain in expectation, to wait. Often with an adverbial adjunct of time. (Chiefly northern, but used by modern poets.)
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lv[i]. 6. Swa min sawl bad.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10991. Quen þai had beden til þai war irk Þai com þamself in-to þe kyrk.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 982. Ones ho bluschet to þe burȝe, bot bod ho no lenger.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 569. The childe thoghte he longe bade That he ne ware a knyghte made.
1483. Cath. Angl., 31. To Byde, expectare.
1634. Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 307. He shall receive by thee his health, the which had bidden so long.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxiii. ‘Bide a wee, bide a wee,’ said Cuddie.
1864. Tennyson, En. Ard., 435. Will you not bide your year as I bide mine?
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., xvi. ‘Bide a bit.’
† b. Const. for, to; on, upon (north.). Obs.
a. 1300. Vox & Wolf, 135. Ich hedde so ibede for the.
1609. Skene, Reg. Mag., 124. Except he fraudfullie absent himselfe, and in that case, he sal be bidden vpon … be the space of fourtie dayes.
2. To remain or continue in some state or action; to continue to be (something). arch.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., III. iii. § 3. Seo eorþe giniende bád.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. ciii[iv]. 11. Bidað assan eac onþurste.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1907. Yeit he baid seuen dais in rest. Ibid. (c. 1340), 19836 (Trin.). In orisoun he lay and bode.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. i. (1859), 68. Ful longe there I boode in my torment and peyne.
c. 1530. Jacob & 12 Sonnes (Collier), 12. Rachel bod long barrain.
1611. Bible, Rom. xi. 23. If they bide not still in vnbeliefe.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VI. xliv. And thirstie drinks, and drinking thirstie bides.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, viii. 10. Nor follow her that flies thee, or to bide in woe Consent.
b. To bide by (rarely at): to stand firm by, adhere to, stick to, maintain. † To bide upon: to dwell or insist upon (a point). Obs.
1494. Fabyan, VI. cciv. 214. For this [battle] was so strongly bydden by, that men coude nat iudge whiche parte had the better.
1526. Tindale, Mark x. 7. And for this thingis sake shall a man leve father and mother and byde by his wife.
1536. Sir R. Moryson, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. lxxii. Many things … which be both truly spoken and cannot but do good being bydden bye.
1559. Kennedy, Lett., in Misc. Wodrow Soc. (1844), 266. He gaif me nevir answir to my wryttingis, nor ȝit baid at his sayingis.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. i. 243. To bide upon ’t: thou art not honest.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, V. 316. Worthy reasons why she should Bide by this issue.
Cf. To be a bidden by, prop. abidden by: to be maintained; also advb. = undoubtedly, we may be sure.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI., v. (Arb.), 133. To be a bidden by he would have done much good in that part.
3. To remain in a place, or with a person, as opposed to going away; to stay. Often with the idea of remaining behind when others go. arch.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. v. § 7. Þonne he þær leng bide.
[c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvi. 38. Gebidaþ her and waciaþ mid me.]
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 149. Wuo is mi soule þat ich bide here swo longe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16744. Durst naman wit him bide.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 34. Y thought to haue byddyn ther in the same place tyl the mornyng.
1515. Barclay, Ecloges, i. (1570), A v/4. Better were for suche to have bid at home.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, II. 399. He baid … Vpon that hill … Him to refresche.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. xi. 40. So there all day they bode, till light the sky forsooke.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. ii. 3. Such as dive and bide long under the Water.
1857. Emerson, Poems, 89. Who bides at home, nor looks abroad.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., I. 68. While we bided on that flowery down.
4. Of things: To remain, be left. To let a thing bide: to leave it where it is; to leave it alone for the present, to let it stand over.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 449. Þaȝ þe kyste in the cragez wern closed to byde.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lxxix. (1495), 913. Yf they byde in the stomak they torne sone to fumosyte and corrupcion.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 166. A gret power at Dipplyn still thar baid.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 154. Heauen and earth shal sooner perish, then one iot bide behind of that he hath promised.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1650), 72. Waters stinke soone, if in one place they bide.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., iv. 97. We will let the crow bide.
5. To remain in residence; to sojourn, dwell, reside. arch.
c. 1280. Fall & Passion, 40, in E. E. P. (1862), 13. Nedis he most wend to helle … þere he most bide an dwelle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Cokes T., 35. This ioly prentys with his maister bood [v.r. bode].
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 26. Than bode with hym a certeyn brother.
1591. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 400. The world, in which they bootles boad.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. III. (1651), 258. Some … will know … what God did … Where did he bide.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 321. All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., V. xxv. The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow.
1821. Joanna Baillie, Met. Leg., Lady G. B., xii. 9. Many his wants who bideth lonely there.
II. trans.
6. To wait for, await. Now only in the phrase, To bide one’s time: to await one’s opportunity.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xi. 3. Oðer we bidas.
971. Blickl. Hom., 7. Drihtnes engel bideþ þinre ʓeþafunga.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 11. Eauer bide his grace.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 622. We byde þe here.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. cxviii. [cxix.] 166. I bod thin helthe ȝiuere, Lord.
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., xxii. Atte Tarnewathelan Bidus me Sir Gauan.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. x. 122. Now at the dur deyd redy bydis me.
1611. Bible, Wisd., viii. 12. When I hold my tongue they … shal bide my leisure.
1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xvii. 218. § 1. They bide their time and then suddenly present themselves.
1873. Smiles, Huguenots Fr., I. ix. (1881), 191. They held their peace and bided their time.
7. To await in resistance, to face, encounter, withstand; = ABIDE 14.
[a. 1000. Beowulf, 3241. Se þe ǽr æt sæcce gebád wíʓ-hrýre wráðra.]
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 376. He baldly hym bydez.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 23. None durst hym byde there at all.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxxxix. 532. Some of the capitayns wolde that thenglisshmen shulde be byden, and some other sayd nay, bycause they were nat strong ynough to abyde them that were fresshmen.
1664. Floddan F., ix. 83. Yet for defence they fiercely frame And narrow dint with danger boad.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, V. xxxii. They dare not, hand to hand, Bide buffet from a true man’s brand.
1877. Bryant, Odyss., V. 583. Two men and three, in that abundant store, Might bide the winter storm.
† 8. To await submissively, submit to. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 4721. Þæt ne sulde he nauere ibiden þe while þe he mihte riden.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 545. The kynges wil wald he noght bide, Worth of him what may bityde.
19. To endure, suffer, bear, undergo; = ABIDE 16. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 33. Ne wot no man hwat blisse is þe naure wowe ne bod.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3105. Maniȝe ðor sorȝe on liue bead.
c. 1400. Sir Perc., 627. The sorowe that the kinge bade Mighte no tonge telle.
1530. Palsgr., 454/2. I can nat byde this payne.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 304. There is no womans sides Can bide the beating of so strong a passion.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 59. Wherein we Must bide the stroak of that long threatn’d wound.
1748. Thomson, Cast. Indol., I. xxii. Who bides his grasp will that encounter rue.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xl. I wonder how younger folk bide it—I bide it ill.
† b. To bide out: to endure to the end. Obs.
1637. Rutherford, Lett., 85, I. 217. To bide out the seige.
10. To tolerate, endure, put up with; = ABIDE 17.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1594. If iacob took her also a wif, Ne bode ic no lengere werldes lif.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 32. For he … May not byde þat burne.
1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 25. I cou’dna bide the thought.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xii. I could never bide the staying still in ae place.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, 84. Tho’ I can drink wine I cannot bide water, my lord.
