bide

verb

ˈbīd 

bode ˈbōd  or bided; bided; biding

transitive verb

1

past tense usually bided : to wait for

—used chiefly in the phrase bide one's time

is biding his time before asking for a raise

2

archaic : withstand

two men … might bide the winter storm

—W. C. Bryant

3

chiefly dialectal : to put up with : tolerate

… couldn't bide children on his place …

—J. W. Riley

intransitive verb

1

: to continue in a state or condition

bide still a moment

2

: to wait awhile : tarry

3

: to continue in a place : sojourn

bide in a cabin

bider noun

Synonyms

• abide
• continue
• endure
• hold on
• hold up
• keep up
• last
• perdure
• persist
• remain
• run on

Examples of bide in a Sentence

how long are you going to bide in this unhappy marriage?

at my advanced age I simply cannot bide young children

Recent Examples on the Web

So Schoen took Carter without hesitation with the third pick and then bided his time to see what would happen with the quarterbacks. —Dan Duggan, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2025

He’s been biding his time since then, throwing plyometric balls in third inning of games, working the bands in the fifth and playing catch with the wall in the seventh, just in case. —Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2025

All of this has changed how superspeedway races unfold, creating the impression that no longer is it paramount to be a great driver with a great team but more about biding your time and capitalizing on others’ misfortune and/or mistakes. —Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025

The stalking may just have been a way to bide time and screw up the courage for a dinner invite, but after their meal, Burt’s Outie might not be wholly innocent or trustworthy. —Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 22 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English biden "to stay, linger, wait expectantly, hope for, undergo," going back to Old English bīdan, past bād, bidon, past participle biden, going back to Germanic *bīðan- (whence also Old Saxon bīdan "to wait, stand ready, hold out," Old High German bītan "to wait, expect," Old Norse bíða "to wait for, suffer, undergo," Gothic beidan "to wait for, endure"), perhaps going back to Indo-European *b^hei̯d- "entrust, trust" — more at faith entry 1

Note: The argument has been made, most notably by Émile Benveniste (Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes, Paris, 1969, tome 1, pp. 119-20), that in Germanic an older sense "place one's trust in something" developed into "expect with confidence, wait for" and then "undergo, endure"—though this hypothesis has not been universally accepted.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for bide

• bride
• chide
• cried
• died
• dried
• dyed
• eid
• eide
• eyed
• flied
• fried
• glide

Kids Definition

bide

verb

ˈbīd 

bode ˈbōd  or bided; bided; biding

: to wait or wait for

bided his time before acting