arrear

From Middle English arere, from Old French arere, from Vulgar Latin *ad retro (literally “to the rear”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈɹɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈɹɪɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• 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, volume 3, London, published 1814, page 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.
   • November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten

     I have a large arrear of letters to write.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:

     My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all day to clear off.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 98:

     After World War II it took time to clear up the arrears of track maintenance on both lines and it was not until 1953 that the L.M.R. restored any two-hour schedules, the W.R. following suit a year later.

2. Unpaid debt.

   fall into arrears

   • 1987, Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”, in In the Dark:

     I know the debt is in arrears / The dog has not been fed in years / It's even worse than it appears, but / It's alright

3. That which is in the rear or behind.

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Vandalic *rith (“advice”).

• Homophone: arriar (Portugal)
• Hyphenation: ar‧re‧ar

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

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

   Synonym: aparelhar

• arreio

• “arrear”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “arrear”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /areˈaɾ/ [a.reˈaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: a‧rre‧ar

From arre +‎ -ar.

• harrear (dated)

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

1. to drive, herd (livestock)
2. to forcefully capture, take
3. to urge

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *arredāre (“arrange, provide”), from Vandalic *rith (“advice”).^[1] Cognate with English array.

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

1. to harness

• “arrear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025