bide
- Archaic. to endure; bear.
- Obsolete. to encounter.
- to dwell; abide; wait; remain.
- bide one's time, to wait for a favorable opportunity: He wanted to ask for a raise, but bided his time.
Origin of bide
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for bided
Contemporary Examples
After that, Jones bided her time until the right (big) roles came along.
Force had never lost control, it had only bided its time long enough for people like me to believe otherwise.
An American in Cairo to Work on His Graphic Novel Tries to Understand the Story of the RevolutionMichael Ide
November 16, 2013
So Rice decamped to Turtle Bay, where she bided her time until Jones retired at the NSC.
Historical Examples
Kirkwood acceded, perforce; and bided his time with what tolerance he could muster.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
He made his camp and bided the arrival of the cattle; but that arrival did not materialize.
When the West Was YoungFrederick R. Bechdolt
In other words, he bided his time, and when he did strike, struck at an unguarded place.
In the Days of DrakeJ. S. Fletcher
But he bided his time; and when Mr. Hawkins came, then there was a decision pronounced.
Is He Popenjoy?Anthony Trollope
She bided her chance like a watchful cat—but it did not come.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922Lucy Maud Montgomery
bide
- (intr) archaic, or dialect to continue in a certain place or state; stay
- (intr) archaic, or dialect to live; dwell
- (tr) archaic, or dialect to tolerate; endure
- bide a wee Scot to stay a little
- bide by Scot to abide by
- bide one's time to wait patiently for an opportunity
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for bided
bide
v.
Old English bidan "to stay, continue, live, remain," also "to trust, rely" (cognate with Old Norse biða, Old Saxon bidan, Old Frisian bidia, Middle Dutch biden, Old High German bitan, Gothic beidan "to wait"), apparently from PIE *bheidh-, an extended stem of one root of Old English biddan (see bid (v.)), the original sense of which was "to command," and "to trust" (cf. Greek peithein "to persuade," pistis "faith;" Latin fidere "to trust," foedus "compact, treaty," Old Church Slavonic beda "need"). Perhaps the sense evolved in prehistoric times through "endure," and "endure a wait," to "to wait." Preserved in Scotland and northern England, replaced elsewhere by abide in all senses except to bide one's time. Related: Bided; biding.