Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Forbear

For·bear′ (fŏr·bâr′), n. [See Fore, and Bear to produce.] An ancestor; a forefather; — usually in the plural. [Scot.] "Your forbears of old." Sir W. Scott.

For·bear′ (fŏr·bâr′), v. i. [imp. Forbore (Forbare, [Obs.]); p. p. Forborne; p. pr. & vb. n. Forbearing.] [OE. forberen, AS. forberan; pref. for- + beran to bear. See Bear to support.] 1. To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.

Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? 1 Kings xxii. 6.

2. To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.

Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Ezek. ii. 7.

3. To control one's self when provoked.

The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear. Cowper.

Both bear and forbear. Old Proverb.

For·bear′, v. t. 1. 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. Shenstone.

The King In open battle or the tilting field Forbore his own advantage. Tennyson.

2. To treat with consideration or indulgence.

Forbearing one another in love. Eph. iv. 2.

3. To cease from bearing. [Obs.]

Whenas my womb her burden would forbear. Spenser.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.