an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
to submit to; agree to: to abide by the court's decision.
c.
to remain steadfast or faithful to; keep: If you make a promise, abide by it.
Origin: before 1000;Middle Englishabiden,Old Englishābīdan; cognate with Old High Germanirbītan await, Gothicusbeisns expectation, patience. See a-3, bide
O.E. abidan, gebidan "remain," from ge- completive prefix (denoting onward motion; see a- (1)) + bidan "bide, remain, wait, dwell" (see bide). Originally intransitive (with genitive of the object: we abidon his "we waited for him"); transitive sense
emerged in M.E. Meaning "to put up with" (now usually negative) first recorded 1520s. The historical conjugation is abide, abode, abidden, but the modern formation is now generally weak.