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

For his part, and for most of that way, Sandman was biding his time in the back of the nine-horse field. —Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025

While those who can afford it may decide to buy a home even with the current prices and mortgage rates, most are biding their time. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 25 Mar. 2025

Major events expected this week Investors are likely biding time on Monday, setting up for a couple of major events this week. —Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025

The veteran Pole had to bide his time to debut at his new club, but eventually got the nod in a Copa del Rey win against Barbastro at the turn of 2025. —Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 7 Mar. 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