American Dictionary of the English Language

Dictionary Search

Patience


PATIENCE, noun pa'shens. [Latin patientia, from patior, to suffer.]

1. The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from christian submission to the divine will.

2. A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.

3. The act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontent.

Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Matthew 18:26.

4. Perseverance; constancy in labor or exertion.

He learnt with patience and with meekness taught.

5. The quality of bearing offenses and injuries without anger or revenge.

His rage was kindled and his patience gone.

6. Sufferance; permission. [Not used.]

7. A plant, a species of rumex of dock.