Dictionary

aby en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /əˈbaɪ/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English abyen, abien, abiggen, from Old English ābyċġan (“to buy; pay for; buy off; requite; recompense; redeem; perform; execute”), from Proto-Germanic *uzbugjaną, equivalent to a- + buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan). Not related to abide.

Meanings

1. (archaic, transitive) To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends.
   • Foole-hardy Knight, full soone thou shalt aby / This fond reproach, thy body will I hang, [Hee takes down / his pole.] / And loe vpon that string thy teeth shall hang: Prepare thy selfe, for dead soone shalt thou bee 1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
2. (archaic, figuratively, transitive) To pay (something) as a penalty, to atone for; to suffer (something).
   • Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455:
   • We doubt thee not; / Thy tale seems true, nor dost thou glorify / Thyself herein—certes thou wouldst abye / A heavy fate if thou shouldst lie herein— […] 1870, William Morris, “February: Bellerophon in Lycia”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 339:
3. (qualifier:obsolete except Scotland, transitive) To endure or tolerate (something); to experience.
   • The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers, a'body kens that; and as for the Gregara, I never could abye the reek of them since I could stotter on two feet. 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Wood by Silvermills”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 131:
4. (obsolete, transitive) To pay for (something); to buy.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To pay the penalty; to atone.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To endure; to remain.
   • So long as breath, and hable puiſſaunce / Did natiue corage vnto him ſupply, / His pace he freſhly forward did aduaunce, / And carried her beyond all ieopardy, / But nought that wanteth reſt, can long aby. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3, pages 494–495:

Forms

Synonyms

undergang · hold on · pouch · procure · undergo · procure · allow · stomach · stick · prevail · dree · persist · remain · last · aby · brook · go along with · propitiate · live with · aby · take sitting down · tolerate · sustain · bear · bide · buy · abide · stick out · suffer · aby · accept · thole · stand · endure · expiate · pocket · pass · abide · snap up · take · live · brook · go on · purchase · lie · purchase · cheap · make up · endure · put up with · stick it out · astand · swallow · hold on · stick · put up with · forbear · abear · go on