From Middle English aberen, from Old English āberan (“to bear, carry, carry away”), from ā- (“away, out”), ar- + 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).
- (transitive, now rare, regional) To put up with; to endure. [from 9th c.]
1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
- Hunder-cook, indeed! which it's what I never abore yet, and never will abear.
- (transitive, obsolete) To bear; to carry. [10th-15th c.]
- (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) To behave; to comport oneself. [16th-17th c.]
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.12:
- So did the Faerie knight himselfe abeare, / And stouped oft his head from shame to shield […]
- (endure): Used in the negative nowadays.
abear (plural abears)
- (obsolete) Bearing, behavior. [14th-17th c.]