eldertongue

Old English · verb

abidan

Normalised ābīdan

Part of speech
verb
Verb class
strong class I
IPA
/ɑːˈbiː.dɑn/
Syllables
ɑː · ˈbiː · dɑn (3 syllables)
Modern English
abidewait

Meaning

  1. to wait (+genitive for something)

    Hwæs ābītst þū?

    What are you waiting for?

    late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints
  2. to remain

    Æfter ðisum ġebede, hē ābād on ðām leġere āne fēawa dagas, mid fefore ġewǣht, þurh wacolon ġebedum, on flōre liċġende, bestrēowod mid axum, on stīðre hǣran, upāhafenum ēagum and handum tō heofenum, and ne ġeswāc his ġebeda ōðþæt hē sāwlode.

    After this prayer, he remained in sickness for a few days, weakened by fever, in watchful prayer, lying on the floor, bestrewn with ashes, on stiff sackcloth, with eyes and hands turned up toward heaven, and he did not stop his prayers until he passed away.

    Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

Conjugation

Conjugation of abidan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular ābīdeābād
2nd singular ābītstābide
3rd singular ābīttābītābād
Plural ābīdaþābidon
Subjunctive
Singular ābīdeābide
Plural ābīdenābiden
Non-finite forms of abidan
Form
Infinitive ābīdan
Inflected infinitive ābīdenne
Imperative singular ābīd
Imperative plural ābīdaþ
Present participle ābīdende
Past participle ābiden

All forms (14)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *uʀbīdan (“to await, expect, tolerate”), equivalent to ā- + bīdan.

Descendants

abide

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abidan · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution