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 of bide

• remain
• continue
• last
• persist
• stay

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

The other ones kind of had to bide their time to get that opportunity to play shortstop, take it over for a year or two. —Michael Osipoff, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026

While Thursday marked the official unveiling of de Meo’s holistic business strategy for Kering, his first seven months on the job have not been spent biding time. —Laure Guilbault, Vogue, 16 Apr. 2026

Devin Carter had to bide his time and wait his turn during his first two seasons with the Sacramento Kings. —Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 11 Apr. 2026

Wall Street is rediscovering many old tech names from the 1990's that have been quietly biding their time, waiting patiently for this new cycle. —Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2026

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