FORBEAR • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Forbear

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noun

Forbear n. (Also spelled forebear) An ancestor; a forefather; usually in the plural. (Scot.) "Your forbears of old."

verb

Forbear v. t. (past forbore, obs. forbare; past part. forborne; pres. part. forbearing)

To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up; as, to forbear the use of a word of doubtful propriety. "But let me that plunder forbear." "The King In open battle or the tilting field Forbore his own advantage."

To treat with consideration or indulgence. "Forbearing one another in love."

To cease from bearing. (Obs.) "Whenas my womb her burden would forbear."

Forbear v. i. (past forbore, obs. forbare; past part. forborne; pres. part. forbearing)

To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay. "Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?"

To refuse; to decline; to give no heed. "Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear."

To control one's self when provoked. "The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear." "Both bear and forbear."

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Etymology of 'Forbear'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Forbear" Quotes from Famous Books

... the test, And find you quail before a merry jest!" Then the great king himself stood up in ire, With clenched hand raised, and eyes that gleamed dark fire, And fronting the Green Knight he cried: "Forbear! For by my sword ...

— Gawayne And The Green Knight - A Fairy Tale • Charlton Miner Lewis

... bear with their foibles, and acknowledge her own. Without disputing about the right, she sometimes yields to those who are in the wrong. In short, her temper is perfectly good, for it can bear and forbear." ...

— The Bracelets • Maria Edgeworth

... I am not thine. Prim Creed, with categoric point, forbear To feature me my Lord by rule and line. Thou canst not measure Mistress Nature's hair, Not one sweet inch: nay, if thy sight is sharp, Would'st count the strings upon ...

— The Poems of Sidney Lanier • Sidney Lanier

... the respective localities. The sharks of the port of La Guayra seem to furnish an analogous example. They are dangerous and blood-thirsty at the island opposite the coast of Caracas, at the Roques, at Bonayre, and at Curassao; while they forbear to attack persons swimming in the ports of La Guayra and Santa Martha. The natives, who like the ignorant mass of people in every country, in seeking the explanation of natural phenomena, always have recourse to the marvellous, affirm that in the ports just mentioned, ...

— Equinoctial Regions of America • Alexander von Humboldt

... The world could not forbear making a comparison between Charles V., a prince who, though educated amidst wars and intrigues of state, had prevented the decline of age, and had descended from the throne, in order to set apart an interval for thought and reflection; and a priest who, in ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume

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