verb. (colloquial or vulgar).—To endure; to suffer. [O.E.D.: ‘A word of honourable antiquity; widely diffused in the dialects; in London reckoned as a vulgarism.’ Quots. are given dated 885, 1175, and 1230, with a gap to 1836–7 infra.]
1836. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz (1850), 151. 2. The young lady denied having formed any such engagements at all—she couldn’t ABEAR the men, they were such deceivers.
1855. ATKINSON, Whitby Glossary, s.v. She cannot ABEAR that man, very much dislikes him.
1864. TENNYSON, Northern Farmer, l. 64. I couldn ABEAR to see it.
