Definition of "albeit"

VVho are you? tell me for more certainty, / Albeit Ile ſvveare that I do knovv your tongue.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene vi], page 170

The stranger had crossed a sacred line. He had mentioned the men’s mothers. Nothing could get him out of a beating now, even the fact that he was obviously a simpleton. Albeit a simpleton with a good vocabulary.

2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 92

There’s an easy, albeit expensive, way to fix the national crisis in forensic crime labs.

2007 June 17, Ellen Marrus, Houston Chronicle

Up front, skipper and open-side Lewis Moody looked almost back to full fitness, while England's set-piece was barely troubled, albeit against a Romania side showing 11 changes from that beaten by Argentina earlier in the week.

2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67 – 3 Romania”, in BBC Sport‎