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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Suffer

Sŭf'fer, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SUFFERED; p. pr. & vb. n. SUFFERING.] [Fr. souffrir, O. Fr. sufrir, soffrir, soffere, soffere, soffrer, Pr. suffrir, soffrir, sufferre, Sp. sufrir, Pg. soffrer, It. soffrire, sofferire, Lat. sufferre, from prefix sub, under, and ferre, to bear.]

Sense 1. To feel or endure with pain, annoyance, and the like; to submit to with distress or grief; to undergo; as, to suffer pain of body, or grief of mind.

Sense 2. To endure without sinking; to support; to sustain.

Our spirit and strength entire, Strongly to suffer and support our pains. Milton.

Sense 3. To undergo; to be affected by; to sustain; as, substances suffer an entire change by the action of fire, or by entering into new combinations; to suffer loss or damage.

Sense 4. To allow; to permit; not to forbid or hinder; to tolerate.

Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Lev. xix. 17.

I suffer them to enter and possess. Milton.

Synonyms— To permit; bear; endure; support; sustain; allow; admit; tolerate. See PERMIT.

Sŭf'fer, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To feel or undergo pain of body or mind; to bear what is inconvenient; as, we suffer with pain, sickness, or sorrow; we suffer with anxiety.

*O, well for him whose will is strong: He suffers, but he can not suffer long. Tennyson.*

Sense 2. To undergo punishment.

The father was first condemned to suffer on a day appointed, and the son afterward, the day following. Clarendon.

Sense 3. To be injured: to sustain loss or damage.

Public business suffers by private infirmities. Sir W. Temple.