Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUF'FER-ANCE, n.

1. The bearing of pain; endurance; pain endured; misery. He must not only die, / But thy unkindness shall the death draw out / To ling'ring sufferance. – Shak.
2. Patience; moderation; a bearing with patience. But hasty heat temp'ring with sufferance wise. – Spenser.
3. Toleration; permission; allowance; negative consent by not forbidding or hindering. In process of time, sometimes by sufferance, sometimes by special leave and favor, they erected to themselves oratories. – Hooker. In their beginning, they are weak and wan, / But soon through sufferance grow to fearful end. – Spenser. An estate at sufferance, in law, is where a person comes into possession of land by lawful title, but keeps it after the title ceases, without positive leave of the owner. – Blackstone.