bide
Americanverb (used with object)
-
bides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bided,
past participle, past
-
bode,
past (Archaic)
-
bid,
past participle (Archaic)
-
biding
present participle
-
Archaic. to endure; bear.
-
Obsolete. to encounter.
verb (used without object)
-
bides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bided,
past participle, past
-
bode,
past (Archaic)
-
bid,
past participle (Archaic)
-
biding
present participle
idioms
verb
-
archaic (intr) to continue in a certain place or state; stay
-
archaic (intr) to live; dwell
-
archaic (tr) to tolerate; endure
-
to stay a little
-
to abide by
-
to wait patiently for an opportunity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bidesimple
-
bidessimple
-
have bidperfect
-
have bidedperfect
-
has bidperfect
-
has bidedperfect
-
am bidingprogressive
-
are bidingprogressive
-
is bidingprogressive
-
have been bidingperfect progressive
-
has been bidingperfect progressive
Past
-
bidedsimple
-
bodesimple
-
had bidperfect
-
had bidedperfect
-
was bidingprogressive
-
were bidingprogressive
-
had been bidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bide
before 900; Middle English biden, Old English bīdan; cognate with Old Frisian bīdia, Old Saxon bīdan, Old High German bītan, Old Norse bītha, Gothic beidan, Latin fīdere, Greek peíthesthai to trust, rely < Indo-European *bheidh-; the meaning apparently developed: have trust > endure > wait > abide > remain
Explanation
When you bide, you remain somewhere. You'd be wise to bide a while inside and wait for the rain to stop before you leave! The verb bide is extremely old-fashioned, but you may be familiar with it from expressions like "bide your time" and businesses named "Bide-a-Wee." It comes from the Old English bidan, "to stay, continue, or remain." When you bide your time, you wait until a good opportunity comes up: "I'll bide my time until I find the perfect rescue dog." As for "bide-a-wee," that's a Scottish phrase meaning "stay a while."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Investors may bide their time until there are more concrete details about SpaceX’s financials.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
“I have everything prepped for the price raise, but I haven’t implemented it because I’m still trying to bide my time to see what happens,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
She said the lieutenant governor’s role is typically a sleepy perch for politicians as they bide their time to run for higher office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2026
The message to her is that if there isn’t anything good out there to buy, investors should just sit tight and be patient— such as bide time in T-bills.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025
“And our mistress still sleeps. Alcyoneus was forced to bide his time in the north, waiting, planning. Only now does Gaea begin to stir. Oh, but she remembers you, and so does her son!”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
Henry bides his time, watching other subjects closely before befriending Eleven.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025
But if the host cell is lucky, maybe the virus simply settles into this cozy outpost—either going dormant or back-engineering its little genome into the host’s genome—and bides its time.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 14, 2021
He could have easily let loose from the beginning with a sensationalist narrative of exploitation and degradation, but he bides his time, allowing his evidence to accrue.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2020
A rocker bides his time and offers his mountain retreat for lease while waiting for a buyer, a guitarist finds a home that hooks him, and a songwriter puts pen to sales contract in Nashville.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2020
Day of trial, with what sorrow Do I feel thy pain at last; Nothing earthly bides the morrow, And the pledge-laws travel fast.
From Gaudeamus! Humorous Poems by Joseph Victor von Scheffel
For two-thirds of Sunday’s Long Beach Grand Prix, Alex Palou bided his time … waiting for the one break he needed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2026
That country, which once hid its strength and bided its time, has decided under Xi Jinping to “flex its muscles.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Newby toned it down and bided his time.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
Many bided time in a hardscrabble neighborhood, renamed “Little Haiti,” while working in car washes, restaurants and factories that produce goods for export to the United States.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2024
Apparently a man of some ambition and much patience, Magas bided his time until the death of Ptolemy in 283.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
Clear communication has been a major challenge with the Tatas, which does not bode well for the public markets, according to Dalal.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
That may bode well for Micron, given that the South Korean stocks tend to act as a harbinger of what’s to come for the U.S. market.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
That just doesn’t bode well for the future — it’s paying off in the present too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
This should bode well for the Thai hospital operator as revenue from Middle East patients grew 21% on year in 1Q, compared with a 1% gain in overall revenue, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
It did not bode well that she had.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
In 2020, he assisted West in the rapper's unsuccessful bid to become president.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Nepali army rescue teams were drilling in an "extremely challenging" bid to rescue more than 100 people trapped inside multiple hydropower tunnels.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
But in the past couple of weeks—and with his bid for a fourth term pending—Abbott has changed his tune.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
His suggestion: tying the COE to the owner instead of the car, which would allow drivers to change cars without having to bid for a new certificate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Truman agreed to support France’s bid to retake its former colony.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Either way, it looks like Streeting is biding his time, meaning a drawn-out battle.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
For now, analysts say Baku is biding its time.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
And even some investors that have held back in recent weeks say they’re just biding their time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
I sensed he was looking through me and not at me, as if he had decided I wasn’t his type and was biding his time until the bell rang.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
The Army sits yet in the Town, waiting & biding for we know not what.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
