arrear

Borrowed from Old French arere, ariere, from Vulgar Latin *ad retro (“to the rear”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈɹɪə/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

arrear (comparative more arrear, superlative most 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 [...].

arrear (plural arrears)

1. Work to be done, obligation.
   • (Can we date this quote by J. D. Forbes?)

     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.

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Gothic.

arrear (first-person singular present indicative arreio, past participle arreado)

1. (transitive) to harness (to place a harness on something)

• aparelhar

• arreio

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Gothic[1]. Less likely from arre +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): /areˈaɾ/

arrear (first-person singular present arreo, first-person singular preterite arreé, past participle arreado)

1. to urge
2. to harness
3. to drive (cattle)