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 for bide on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for bides
Contemporary Examples
He plots and schemes and bides his time to strike when he thinks the stars are aligned in his favor.
And when trespassed against, he bides his time and strikes back by proxy.
Historical Examples
The warst o' 't is I canna tell wha she is or whaur she bides.'
Robert FalconerGeorge MacDonald
So with my wife to Mile End, and there drank of Bides ale, and so home.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, CompleteSamuel Pepys
He's a civil young chap now, and that's more than he'll be long if he bides with thee.
The Water-BabiesCharles Kingsley
If they puts her anywhere, there she bides, and don't try for to do nothing.
Memoirs of a Surrey LabourerGeorge Sturt (AKA George Bourne)
He has infinite faith in a deep compensating future, and bides his time.
Poachers and PoachingJohn Watson
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 bides
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.