Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IM-PA'TIENT, a. [L. impatiens.]

1. Uneasy or fretful under suffering; not bearing pain with composure; not enduring evil without fretfulness, uneasiness, and a desire or effort to get rid of the evil. Young men are impatient of restraint. We are all apt to be impatient under wrongs; but it is a Christian duty not to be impatient in sickness, or under any afflictive dispensation of Providence.
2. Not suffering quietly; not enduring. Fame, impatient of extremes, decays / Not more by envy than excess of praise. Pope.
3. Hasty; eager; not enduring delay. The impatient man will not wait for information; he often acts with precipitance. Be not impatient for the return of spring.
4. Not to be borne; as, impatient smart. Spenser. This word is followed by of, at, for, or under. We are impatient of restraint, or of wrongs; impatient at the delay of expected good; impatient for the return of a friend, or for the arrival of the mail; impatient under evils of any kind. The proper use of these particles can be learnt only by practice or observation.