▪ I. dure, v. arch. and dial.
(djʊə(r))
Also 4 duyre, dyre, 4–6 dour(e, 5 deure, dewre, dowre, 6 duer.
[a. F. dure-r to last, continue, persist, † extend:—L. dūrā-re to harden, be hardened, endure, hold out, last, f. dūr-us hard.]
1. intr. To last, continue in existence. arch.
| c 1275 Lay. 26708 Al þane day long durede þat fiht strong. c 1315 Shoreham 3 Hy ne moȝe nauȝt dury. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Pref. (1810) 189 Þare biriels he þouht to honoure With som þing þat ay myght doure. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxxvii. 793 Monnes lyf nis bote schort: Sone wol hit go; Bote þe sely soule Duyreþ euermo. c 1450 Merlin 32 As longe as the worlde dureth shall thi boke gladly ben herde. 1526–34 Tindale Matt. xiii. 21 Yet hath he no rotts in him selfe, therfore dureth but a season. 1533 Bellenden Livy iv. (1822) 321 Thare empire durit nocht lang. 1575 Churchyard Chippes (1817) 97 This bickring duerd, foure hours and more at lest. 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1776) 261 The wood being preserved dry, will dure a very long time. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 247 You may change for the other, and so make your sport dure the longer. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xcvi. 6 In thy love dureth a plenary joy. 1882 in W. Worc. Gloss. |
† 2. To persist, ‘hold out’ in action; to continue in a certain state, condition, or place. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 181 He þoȝte..to wynne ȝut al Europe, ȝyf he myȝte dure. 13.. Coer de L. 2937 The Sarezynes myghten nought doure, And flowen into the heye toure. c 1477 Caxton Jason 8 b, [They] persecuted them with their arowes as long as they dured. a 1510 Douglas K. Hart 469 For so in dule he micht no langar dure. a 1541 Wyatt Despair counselleth, etc. Poet. Wks. 97 Against the stream thou mayst not dure. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xlii. 639 As the body can not dure, Except in sesoun men procure Fude in dew tyme it to sustene. |
† 3. To continue or extend onward in space. Obs.
| a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 210 Babilloine..Dureþ abute furten⁓niȝt ȝonde. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vi. 67 There begynnethe the Vale of Ebron, that dureth nyghe to Jerusalem. 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. xvii. 52 Lyke as a flye goth round aboute a round apple In like wyse myght a man goo rounde aboute therthe as ferre as therthe dureth. c 1500 Melusine xxxvi. 281 Nygh therby was a forest that dured a myle. |
† 4. trans. To sustain, undergo, bear (pain, opposition, etc.); to endure. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 335 Ȝyf heo yt may dure. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2634 Might thare none his dintes dour. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxvii. 232 Durynge grete sorow in y⊇ horryble pryson. 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido iv. iii. I may not dure this female drudgery. 1598 Marston Pygmal. Sat. i. (1764) 138 He that..arm'd in proofe, dare dure a strawes strong push. |
5. To harden: see during vbl. n. 2.
▪ II. dure, a. arch.
(djʊə(r))
Also 4 dur, 5 deure, 6 Sc. duire.
[a. F. dur, dure:—L. dūrus hard: cf. also dour.]
1. Hard. lit. and fig.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Andreas 621 Gyf þat þu sa dur wil be Þat þu wil nocht consent to me. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, His bryght skales were so hard and dure. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 155 As the woirme that workis vnder cuire At lenth the tre consumis that is duire. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Epist. 47 That place with dure and deadly dinte hath Cupid crased earst. 1664 Flodden F. viii. 80 Blows with bils most dure was delt. 1848 Lytton Harold ix. i, In reply to too dure a request. 1885 R. F. Burton 1001 Nts. I. 111 The last judgment will deal them durer pains and more enduring. |
† 2. Mus. Sharp. (In quot. applied to the note now called B natural, as distinguished from B flat.) [cf. F. dur, formerly used in same sense.]
| 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 15 The Scale of ♮ dure, and where the Mutations are made. Ibid. 16 For ♮ dures are not changed into b mols, nor contrarily. |
Hence ˈdurely adv.; ˈdureness, stubbornness.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Jacobus (minor) 337 Þe Iowis..wald [not] mend þar wikit liffis..bot in to durnes ay abad. c 1477 Caxton Jason 102 He made his heed hurtle ayenst his crawpe right sore and durely. |
▪ III. dure
obs. form of dare, deer, door.