[f. as prec. + -ING2.] That forbears; patient under provocation, long-suffering; † abstinent.
c. 1425. Eng. Conquest Irel., xxxvi. (1896), 88. He was, as to prynce belongeth, [of] mete, & of drynke ful meen & for-berynge.
1611. Bible, 2 Tim. ii. 24. And the seruant of the Lord must not striue: but bee gentle vnto all men, apt to teach, patient [marg. Or, forbearing].
1782. Cowper, Table T., 400.
| There is a time, and justice marks the date, | |
| For long-forbearing clemency to wait. |
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, x. (1876), 85. Madame Beck was a most consistent character; forbearing with all the world, and tender to no part of it.
Hence Forbearingly adv., Forbearingness.
1831. Examiner, 660/2. The fitness of whipping Mr. Muir was … forbearingly negatived.
1855. H. Clarke, Dict., Forbearingness.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., xiv. (1875), 406. You will nearly always find that the representative hardens his heart against all those considerations of pity, tenderness, and forbearingness, which would have some weight, and ought to have some weight with the persons represented.
