Learn English – Idiom: Bear with me

etymologyidiomssemantics

The sense of this formula is clear. It means be patient with me, be tolerant/lenient. Don't be too harsh on me.

But how can a verb as "to bear" develop the meaning of to be tolerant?

"To bear" is an old verb with connection to Latin ferre and Greek pherein.
"To bear" has split up into several meanings such as "to carry", "to give birth to a child", "to endure", "to be directed towards" and similar things which can semantically be understood from the basic meaning to carry or from Latin ferre and Greek pherein, but no meaning shows a semantic path to "Bear with me".

Best Answer

From the Phrase Finder:

  • The OED relates "bear with" to "bear" in the sense "sustain [anything painful or trying]; to endure, to tolerate".

The expression is quite old and can be found in Shakespeare's works:

  • Actually Shakespeare uses the phrase very often, e.g:
  • Julius Caesar: "Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar"
  • Richard III: "My Lord of York will still be cross in talk: Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him"
  • King Lear: "You must bear with me: Pray you now, forget and forgive"

  • and As You Like it, in which he puns on it. Celia says: "I pray you, bear with me, I cannot go no further." Touchstone replies: "For my part, I had rather bear with [put up with] you than bear [carry] you."

    • Shakespeare certainly didn't invent it; it was clearly a standard part of Elizabethan speech. (It's quite possible, though, that it was the frequent occurrence of it in his plays that kept it familiar and current, and that otherwise it might simply have fallen out of use.)
Related Topic