abide by


Accept and act in accordance with a decision or set of rules; also, remain faithful to. For example, All members must agree to abide by the club regulations, or A trustworthy man abides by his word. An older sense of the verb abide, “remain,” is still familiar in the well-known 19th-century hymn “Abide with Me,” which asks God to stay with the singer in time of trouble. [Early 1500s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.