English
arrear
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /əˈɹɪə/
Adverb

arrear

  1. (obsolete) Towards the rear, backwards. [14th-16th c.]
    • 1591, Edmund Spenser, Virgil's Gnat, ll. 465-8:
      She, (Ladie) having well before approoved / The feends to be too cruell and severe, / Observ'd th' appointed way, as her behooved, / Ne ever did her ey-sight turne arere [...].
  2. (obsolete) Behind time; overdue. [15th-19th c.]
    • 1803, Edward Hyde East, Reports of cases Argued and determined in the Court of King's Bench, London 1814, vol. 3, p. 559:
      In case the annuity should be arrear for sixty days being lawfully demanded, then the trustee might enter upon the premises assigned [...].
Noun

arrear (plural arrears)

  1. Work to be done, obligation.
    • I have a large arrear of letters to write.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula
      My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all day to clear off.
  2. Unpaid debt.
  3. That which is in the rear or behind.
Translations Translations

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