From Middle English aberen, from Old English āberan (“to bear, carry, carry away”), from ā- (“away, out”), a- + beran (“to bear”), from Proto-Germanic *uzberaną (“to bear off, bring forth, produce”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”), equivalent to a- + bear. Cognate with Old High German irberan, Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (usbairan).
Meanings
(obsolete) Bearing, behavior.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
abears
Number=Plur
lexicographic
abear en · VERB
Pronunciation
/əˈbɜː(ɹ)/ Lancashire, fair–fur merger
/əˈbeə/ (New-Zealand) without the cheer–chair merger
From Middle English aberen, from Old English āberan (“to bear, carry, carry away”), from ā- (“away, out”), a- + beran (“to bear”), from Proto-Germanic *uzberaną (“to bear off, bring forth, produce”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”), equivalent to a- + bear. Cognate with Old High German irberan, Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (usbairan).
Meanings
(archaic, dialectal, transitive) To put up with; to endure; to bear.
And he seems sweet on Miss Hazel though she can’t abear him, though when I ask her about him she snaps my head off and tells me to mind my own business. 1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 6, in Lud-in-the-Mist, London: Millennium, published 2000, page 68:
Hunder-cook, indeed! which it's what I never abore yet, and never will abear. 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
(obsolete, transitive) To bear; to carry.
(obsolete, reflexive, transitive) To behave; to comport oneself.
So did the Faerie knight himselfe abeare, / And stouped oft his head from shame to shield […] 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12: