From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
endurance
n 1: the power to withstand hardship or stress; "the marathon
tests a runner's endurance"
2: a state of surviving; remaining alive [syn: survival]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Endurance \En*dur"ance\, n. [Cf. OF. endurance. See Endure.]
1. A state or quality of lasting or duration; lastingness;
continuance.
[1913 Webster]
Slurring with an evasive answer the question
concerning the endurance of his own possession.
--Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
2. The act of bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain
or distress without resistance, or without being overcome;
sufferance; patience.
[1913 Webster]
Their fortitude was most admirable in their patience
and endurance of all evils, of pain and of death.
--Sir W.
Temple.
Syn: Suffering; patience; fortitude; resignation.
[1913 Webster]