To resist successfully; to endure or survive something difficult or harmful.
From Old English 'withstandan', literally 'to stand against', compound of 'wið' (against) + 'standan' (to stand). The prefix 'with-' here means 'against', not 'alongside' as in modern usage.
Withstand contains a linguistic fossil - the prefix 'with-' originally meant 'against' in Old English, the opposite of its modern meaning. This survives only in a few words like 'withstand' and 'withdraw', making them etymological time capsules that preserve an ancient meaning that otherwise disappeared from English.
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