bear with me

To remain patient and attentive, especially during a lengthy or problematic situation that may cause one to want to quit or leave prematurely. Often used as an imperative. I'm moving a little slower these days, so please bear with me. We don't want to see this great school close down, so we're begging the teachers to bear with it, in spite of all the uncertainty. Bear with us while we deal with these technical issues.

Be patient, make allowances, put up with me. Today used mainly as a request to hear out a long-winded story or wait for a delayed result or event, this request appeared in John Heywood’s proverb collection of 1546. It may already have been considered somewhat archaic by Benjamin Franklin when he wrote, in An Added Chapter to the Book of Genesis (1763), “And couldst not thou . . . bear with him one night?”