bide

\ ˈbīd

How to pronounce bide (audio)

\

bode\ ˈbōd

How to pronounce bode (audio)

\ or bided; bided; biding

Definition of bide

transitive verb

1 past tense usually bided : to wait for —used chiefly in the phrase bide one's timeis 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

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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 Dallas and Chicago couldn’t properly get into their lobbies for several minutes, forcing casters to bide for time. — Sean Collins, Dallas News, "Winners and losers from the first Call of Duty League weekend: Strong venue, struggling Empire," 27 Jan. 2020 Their metabolism drops to 0.01 percent as the creatures bide their time for a more habitable environment. — Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, "High Temperatures Might Be Water Bears’ Achilles Heel," 23 Jan. 2020 The patience to bide his time behind Frank Gore as a rookie. — Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star, "Marlon Mack's patience pays off; becomes seventh 1,000-yard rusher in Indy Colts' history," 22 Dec. 2019 The people had spoken overwhelmingly, but the political class, and the CTU and other public worker unions that provide election muscle, know how to bide their time. — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, "Column: After the strike, rewarding CTU bosses with an elected school board would be insanity," 31 Oct. 2019 Hundreds of African migrants stranded in Tapachula opted against joining the caravan on Saturday and continue to bide their time on the streets. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Hundreds of migrants corralled at detention center in Mexico," 13 Oct. 2019 The show's pilot episode will premiere on Christmas Eve at 11 p.m.—what better way to bide your time waiting for Santa? — Hadley Keller, House Beautiful, "Calling All "A Very Brady Renovation" Fans—Eve Plumb Is Getting Her Own Show," 24 Dec. 2019 And their offensive prowess that included 14-straight points for the Pacers during a 5:43 span in the final quarter helped bide their team’s time. — Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star, "Holiday brothers take over fourth quarter for Pacers in comeback win over Celtics," 12 Dec. 2019 One year out, the Gardner campaign is content to bide its time and stash its cash for what promises to be a contentious 2020 endeavor. — Justin Wingerter, The Denver Post, "Democratic groups slam Cory Gardner on-air and online while he and Republicans stay quiet," 25 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bide.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for bide

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 *bhei̯d- "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.

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Last Updated

4 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Bide.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bide. Accessed 19 Feb. 2020.

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