• (British) IPA: /ˈsʌf(ə)ɹəns/

sufferance

1. (archaic) Endurance, especially patiently, of pain or adversity.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 932900760 ↗, book IV, canto VI, stanza 16, page 84 ↗:

     At length when as he ſaw her haſtie heat / Abate, and panting breath begin to fayle, / He through long ſufferãce growing now more great, / Roſe in his strength, and gan her freſh aſſayle, [...]

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 230675575 ↗, page 115 ↗:

     I indulged in this meditation for a moment, and then again addressed the mourner, who stood leaning against the bed with that expression of resigned despair, of complete misery, and a patient sufferance of it, which is far more touching than any of the insane ravings or wild gesticulation of untamed sorrow.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619 ↗, page 46 ↗:

     In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass. [...] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance; they were received with distance and suspicion.

2. Acquiescence or tacit compliance with some circumstance, behavior, or instruction.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto IV, stanza 34, page 241 ↗:

     [M]oſt wretched man, / That to affections does the bridle lend; / In their beginning they are weake and wan, / But ſoone through ſuff'rance growe to fearefull end; [...]

   • Somewhiles by sufferance, and somewhiles by special leave and favour, they erected to themselves oratories.

   • 1910, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Lady Good-for-Nothing, chapter 20:

     When his talk trespasses beyond sufferance, I chastise him.

3. (archaic) Suffering; pain, misery.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 37, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:

     The sufferances which simply touch us in minde, doe much lesse afflict me, then most men [...].

   • 1613, William Shakespeare; [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iii], page 214 ↗, column 2:

     Fortune, do diuorce / It from the bearer, 'tis a ſufferance, panging / As ſoule and bodies ſeuering.

   • 1819 July 14, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: Printed by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 560103767 ↗, canto II, stanza CXLVII, page 192 ↗:

     [T]he streak / Of sufferance yet upon his forehead lay, / Where the blue veins look'd shadowy, shrunk, and weak; [...]

4. (obsolete) Loss; damage; injury.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: Printed by N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, OCLC 724111485 ↗, [Act II, scene i], page 21 ↗:

     The deſperate Tempeſt has ſo bang'd the Turke, / That their deſignement halts; Another ſhippe of Venice hath ſeene / A grievous#English|greeuous wracke and ſufferance / On moſt part of the Fleete.

5. (Britain, historical) A permission granted by the customs authorities for the shipment of goods.

• on sufferance

• acquiesce