Pa"tience (?), n. [F. patience, fr. L. patientia. See Patient.] 1. The state or quality of being patient; the power of suffering with fortitude; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc.
Strenthened with all might, . . . unto all patience and long-suffering.
Col. i. 11.
I must have patience to endure the load.
Shak.
Who hath learned lowliness
From his Lord's cradle, patience from his cross.
Keble.
2. The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for; forbearance.
Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Matt. xviii. 29.
3. Constancy in labor or application; perseverance.
He learned with patience, and with meekness taught.
Harte.
4. Sufferance; permission. [Obs.]
Hooker.
They stay upon your patience.
Shak.
5. Bot. A kind of dock (Rumex Patientia), less common in America than in Europe; monk's rhubarb.
6. Card Playing Solitaire.
Syn. -- Patience, Resignation. Patience implies the quietness or self-possession of one's own spirit under sufferings, provocations, etc.; resignation implies submission to the will of another. The Stoic may have patience; the Christian should have both patience and resignation.
© Webster 1913. | 
