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

• 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

So Xi is biding his time, leveraging his country’s resources and export dominance. —David Goldman, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2025

Millions of periodical cicadas bide their time, feasting on tree roots and counting the years. —Sarah Henry, The Courier-Journal, 8 July 2025

Simultaneously, however, there are examples such as that of Marc Casado’s, which speak to the value of biding one’s time and waiting for the opportunity to come. —Tom Sanderson, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025

How long will the team be able to bide its time with a move to Boston looming? 12. —Devin Robertson, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Aug. 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