To refrain from; abstain from; omit; avoid the doing or use of.
To spare; excuse; treat indulgently.
To refrain; abstain; decline; stop; cease; hold off or back.
To be patient; endure; restrain one's self from action or from violence.
Synonyms To abstain, give over, desist, stay, leave off.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun Scot. An ancestor; a forefather; -- usually in the plural.
intransitive verb To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
intransitive verb To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
intransitive verb To control one's self when provoked.
transitive verb To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
transitive verb To treat with consideration or indulgence.
transitive verb obsolete To cease from bearing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun Alternative spelling of forebear.
verb transitive To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
verb intransitive To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
verb intransitive To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
verb intransitive To control oneself when provoked.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
verb refrain from doing
noun a person from whom you are descended
verb resist doing something
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan ("to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without"), from Proto-Germanic *fraberanan (“to hold back, endure”), equivalent to for- + bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera ("to forfeit"), Middle High German verbërn ("to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid"), Gothic (frabairan, "to endure").
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Examples
The word forbear comes from the Middle English forberen, thence from the Old English forberan, both meaning to endure or to get through something, and to do so with grace and dignity.
Under Genachowski's proposal, the FCC would apply only a small fraction of Title II's rules and exempt, or "forbear," those irrelevant to Internet access.
In this case, Verizon has asked the FCC to "forbear" from regulating some of the services it provides in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence and Virginia Beach.
madmouth commented on the word forbear
Forbear to taste
Library paste
-The Eclectic Abecedarium
June 7, 2009