Be-

prefix:—OE. be-, weak or stressless form of the prep. and adv. bí (biʓ), BY. The original Teut. form was, as in Gothic, bi, with short vowel, prob. cognate with second syllable of Gr. ἀμφί, L. ambi; in OHG. and early OE., when it had the stress, as a separate word, and in composition with a noun, it was lengthened to bī (bî, bí), while the stressless form, in composition with a vb. or indeclinable word, remained bi-; in later OE., as in MHG. and mod.G., the latter was obscured to be- (also occasional in OE. as an unaccented form of the preposition): cf. OE. bí-gęng practice, bi-gangan, be-gangan, to practise. In early ME. the etymological bi-, by- regularly reappeared in comp. as the stressless form; but in later times be- was finally restored. (On the other hand, be was used by northern writers as the separate prep., as still in mod. Sc.) In modern use, the unaccented prefix is always be-; the accented form by- (sometimes spelt bye-) occurs in one or two words descended from OE., as by·-law, by·-word (OE. bí-laʓe, bí-word), and in modern formations on the adv., as by·-gone, by·-name, by·-play, by·-road, by·-stander.

  The original meaning was ‘about.’ In prepositions and adverbs this is weakened into a general expression of position at or near, as in before (at, near, or towards the front), behind, below, beneath, benorth, besouth, between, beyond. With verbs, various senses of ‘about’ are often distinctly retained, as in be-bind, be-come (= come about), be-delve, be-gird, be-set, be-stir. In such as be-daub, be-spatter, be-stir, be-strew, the notion of ‘all about, all round, over,’ or ‘throughout,’ naturally intensifies the sense of the verb; whence, be- comes to be more or less a simple intensive, as in be-muddle, be-crowd, be-grudge, be-break, or specializes or renders figurative, as in befall (to fall as an accident), be-come, be-get, be-gin, be-have, be-hold, be-lieve. In other words the force of be- passes over to an object, and renders an intransitive verb transitive, as in be-speak (speak about, for, or to), be-flow (flow about), be-lie, be-moan, be-think, be-wail. Hence it is used to form transitive vbs. on adjectives and substantives, as in dim be-dim, fool be-fool, madam be-madam; also others, in which the sb. stands in an instrumental or other oblique relation, as be-night ‘to overtake with night,’ be-guile, be-witch. Of these a special section consists of verbs having a privative force, as OE. belandian, behéafdian, to deprive of one’s land, one’s head: cf. bereave, and OE. benim-an to take away. Finally, be- is prefixed with a force combining some of the preceding, to ppl. adjs., as in be-jewelled, be-daughtered.

  Be- being still in some of its senses (esp. 2, 6, 7 below) a living element, capable of being prefixed wherever the sense requires it, the derivatives into which it enters are practically unlimited in number. The more important, including those that are in any way specialized, or that require separate explanation, are treated in their alphabetical places as Main Words. (In the case of ME. words in bi-, by-, all that survived long enough to have BE- appear under this spelling; a few that became obsolete at an early date are left under their only extant form in BI-, BY-.) Those of less importance, infrequent (often single) occurrence, and obvious composition, are arranged under the following groups (in which, however, the senses tend to overlap each other, so as to make the place of some of the words ambiguous):—

  1.  Forming derivative verbs, with sense of ‘around’: a. all round externally, on all sides, all over the surface, as in BESET, BESMEAR; b. from side to side (within a space), to and fro, in all directions, in all ways, in or through all its parts, thoroughly, as in BESTIR, bejumble. (Some of these formations appear only in the pa. pple.)

  Bebang, to bang about; † bebass, to kiss all over, cover with kisses; bebaste (with a cudgel, or with gravy); † bebat, to becudgel; bebatter, bebite; beblear, to blear all over; beblotch, † beboss, bebotch, bebrush; † becense, to perfuse with incense; bechase, to chase about; becircle; beclart dial., to be dirty; beclasp; becompass, to compass about; becramp; † becrampoun, to set (a jewel); becrimson, becrust; † becurry, to curry one’s hide, belabor; becurse, to cover with curses; becut, bedamn, bedamp, bediaper; † bedowse, to souse with water; bedrape, bedrift, bedrive, be-embroider, befan; befinger, to finger all over; befleck, to cover with flecks; befreckle, befriz; † befrounce, to frounce or toss about, touzle; † begarnish, begash, begaud, begirdle; † behale, to drag about; behammer, † behem; † behorewe, to befoul; bejig, to jig about; bejumble, † beknit (OE. becnyttan), belave, belick, bemingle, bemix, bepaste; bepaw, to befoul as with paws; bepen, to pen in; bepommel; † bepounce, to stud; beprank, to prank out or over; bepuddle (e.g., a spring); bepurple; † bequirtle, to besprinkle; berake, to rake all over; † beroll, to roll over; † beround, bescour, beseam, beshackle, † beshield, beshroud; † beslab, to beplaster; beslash, † beslur; beslurry, to sully all over; besmother, besmudge († besmouche); † besow (OE. besáwan), to sow about; † besperple, to bespatter; bespin, to spin round, so as to cover; bespirt; † besquatter, to bespatter with filth; bestamp, † bestroke, † beswitch, betinge, † beturn, beveil, † bewallow (OE. bewalwian), bewash, bewater, bewhiten, bewreath. Also BEBAR, BEDELVE, etc., q.v.

1599.  Porter, Angry Wom. Abingd. (1841), 50. Sheele … *bebang him with drie bobs and scoffes.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 40. Queene Dido shal smacklye *bebasse thee. Ibid., III. (Arb.), 79. With larding smearye *bebasted.

1620.  Rowlands, Nt. Raven, 29. Tom with his cudgell well *bebasts his bones.

1565.  Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846), 133. To be all to-*bebatted and afterward to be beheaded.

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., V. (1593), 106. All *bebattred was his head.

1880.  Webb, trans. Goethe’s Faust, II. v. 130. Each, from queen to waiting-maid, is Be-devilled and *be-bit!

1609.  Armin, Ital. Taylor (1880), 196. Eyes *bebleard with blindnesse.

1807.  Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 412. Down comes a proof … *beblotched and bedeviled.

1576.  Gascoigne, Philomene (Arb.), 90. A snaffle Bit or brake, *Bebost with gold.

1605.  Davies, Humours, Wks. (1876), 44 (D.). Petti-botching brokers all *bebotch.

1587.  Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 30. *Bebrusht with bryers her broosed body bled.

1591.  G. Fletcher, Russe Commw. (1836), 113. Having sprinckled and *besensed the good man and his wife.

1639.  Ainsworth, Annot. Song Sol., iii. 6. *Becensed with Myrrh.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 96. In this Courte, none runneth, but they go all *beechased.

1648.  Earl Westmoreland, Otia Sacra (1879), 128. A grove of Pine *Becircled with Eglantine.

1607.  Topsell, Serpents, 743. He *beclapseth it with his tail, and giveth it fearful blows.

c. 1230.  Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 279. Þat spatel þat swa *biclarted ti leor.

1864.  Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., *Beclarted, splashed or bemired.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., II. (1520), 10 b/1. An Yle … called Albyon … *becompassed al with the see.

1634.  Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 257. Him thought there came a man … all *becompassed of stars.

1666.  Fuller, Hist. Camb. (1840), 107. Many whose hands are *becramped with laziness.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 99. With … pure gould neatly *becrampound.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. VII. vi. 369. Why was the Earth … *becrimsoned with dawn and twilight?

1883.  Century Mag., XXVII. 47. The lofty hedge is *becrimsoned with savage roses.

a. 1834.  Lamb, trans. Bourne’s Ball. Singers, Wks. 633. Two Nymphs … in mud behind, before, From heel to middle leg *becrusted o’er.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence’s Andr., I. ii. (1629), 16/1. I will all to *becurry thee, or bethwacke thy coate.

1553–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 247/1. The legat … all to *beecurssed the earle of Tholouse, his cities and his people.

1860.  Reade, Cloister & H., xlviii. (D.). I was never so *becursed in all my days.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Trav. Twelve P., Wks. I. 67/2. Me all in pieces they *becut and quartir’d.

1863.  Kinglake, Crimea (1877), VI. vi. 278. This much *be-damned ‘Sixth of the Line.’

1870.  Hawthorne, Eng. Note-Bks. (1879), II. 328. A mist … *bedamped me.

1648.  Herrick, Poems, App. (1869), 457 (D.). Fields *bediaperd with flowers, Presente their shappes.

1576.  Gosson, Spec. Hum., ii. A bruised barke with billowes all *bedowst.

1865.  Swinburne, Dolores, 49. We shift and bedeck and *bedrape us.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), III. III. iii. 109. Poor Orléans … foolishly *bedrifted hither and thither.

1614.  Rich, Honest. Age (1844), 26. Some women goe … to the church … so be-laced and so *bee-imbrodered.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., Ep. Ded. *Befann’d from next Dogsday scorchings.

1821.  Southey, Lett. (1856), III. 233. The dirty and *befingered leaves.

1567.  Turberv., Ovid’s Epist., 135 b. Why blush you? and why with vermilion taint *Beflecke your cheekes?

1610.  G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., II. vii. A grassie hillock … With woodie primroses *befreckell’d.

1772.  Songs Costume (1849), 249. *Be-friz it, and paste it, and cut it, and curl it.

1581.  Studley, Seneca’s Hercules Œtæus, 214 b. All her hayre *befrounced, rent and torne.

1647.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 70. What sparagus *begarnishes the dish.

1555.  Fardle Facions, II. ix. 196. [They] all to *begasshe his foreheade and his nose.

1580.  North, Plutarch (1676), 127. *Begawded with Chains of Gold and Iewells.

1843.  Carlyle, Past & Pr., 75. Stately masonries … *begirdle it far and wide.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1584), 310. Also *beehaileth her by the lockes.

1639.  Ainsworth, Anot. Pentat., 144. The Hebrew word signifieth stricken … *behammered.

1598.  Sylvester, Job Triumph., I. 688 (D.). Armies of pains … mee round *behem.

1340.  Ayenb., 237. Þe hand þet is uoul and *behorewed.

1821.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Wife, v. (D.). When they *bejigg’d it ’neath the steeple.

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., IV. (R.). Her filthy arms *beknit with snakes about.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. (1641), 174/1. Me in Thy Bloud *be-lave. Ibid. (1608), 1002. The happy plains great Phasis streams *belave.

1559.  Mirr. Mag., 106 (T.). All his gore *bemingled with this glew. Ibid., Dk. Clarence, xliii. *Bemixt my swete with bitternes to bad.

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., IV. (1593), 102. Waves of water … *Bemixed with the purple bloud.

1684.  Otway, Atheist, Epil. While Rotten Eggs *bepaw the Scarlet Gown.

a. 1230.  Ancr. R., 94. Heo beoð her so *bipenned.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 32. Thee beams with brazed copper were costlye *bepounced.

1648.  Herrick, Hesper. (1844), I. 159. A sheep-hook I will send *Beprank’d with ribands.

1642.  Jer. Taylor, Episc. (1647), 98. While their tradition was cleare … and not so *bepudled … with the mixture of Hereticks.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 37. His sight was yoouthlye *bepurpled.

1721.  Muse in Miniature, 115. Mossy banks and flower-*bepurpled plains.

1690.  Songs Costume (1849), 193. Whole quarts the chamber to *bequirtle.

1685.  R. Burton, Eng. Emp. Amer., ii. 51. Their Guns, with which they so *beraked her from side to side.

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 959. Al *birolled wyth þe rayn, rostted & brenned.

1642.  Bridge, Serm. Norf. Volunteers, 9. Are we not *berounded with many enemies?

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. V. iv. 304. France too is *bescoured with a Devil’s Pack.

1839.  Blackw. Mag., XLV. 301. Blue tops … All *beseamed with snow-streaks hoar.

1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 50. Who this king should bee, *beshackled theyr wits.

1848.  H. Miller, First Impressions of Eng., xi. (1857), 172. Venerable dwellings, much *beshrouded in ivy and honeysuckle.

1481.  Caxton, Reynard (1844), 138. They were *byslabbed and byclagged to their eres to in her owen donge.

1581.  T. Newton, Seneca’s Thebais, 44 b. To die this death: or in one part to be *beslashed through.

1635.  trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., III. (1688), 291. To *beslurr their Writings with this so impudent a Lie.

c. 1614.  Drayton, Crt. Fairy, Wks. (1748), 164. All *beslurried, head and face, On runs he in this wild-goose chase.

1598.  Florio, Carbonare, to besmeare as black as coles, to *besmother.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 508. Their faces … all *besmouched with cole.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 107. Þa sunnan þe deouel *bisaweð on us.

1557.  K. Arthur (W. Copland), VI. viii. The grounde … was all *besperpled wyth blode.

1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., V. XIII. ix. 92. Was a Nation ever so *bespun by gossamer?

1885.  Singleton, Virgil, I. 171. And on the cattle to *bespirt his bane.

1611.  Cotgr., Enfoirir, to besquirt, *besquatter.

1652.  Urquhart, Jewel, Wks. 1834, 256. *Besquatter them on all sides.

1857.  Fraser’s Mag., LVI. 742. That letter … much *bestamped, much stained with travel … is delivered to its owner at Lahore.

1548.  Herrick, Hesp., Wks. I. 157. *Bestroaking fate the while.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 12. *Beting’d with glossy yellow.

1594.  Carew, Tasso (1881), 110. To their aduises the disdainefull hart, Of this audacious youth, *beturning plies.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 55. With darcknesse mightye *beueyled.

c. 1205.  Lay., 25989. Al *biwaled [1250 biwalewed] on axen.

1589.  Fleming, Virg. Georg., IV. 69. She … all *bewasht the burning Vesta … with pure sweet wine.

1648.  Herrick, St. Distaff’s Day, Hesp. (1859), 451. Let the maides *bewash the men.

1593.  Barnes, Parthen., in Arb., Garner, V. 363. Why were these cheeks with tears *bewatered?

1812.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, xix. 71. The cot that’s all *bewhiten’d o’er.

1598.  Gorg. Gallery Invent., Louer weryed w. Life. About mishap that hast thy selfe *bewrethed.

a. 1850.  Beddoes, Song on Water, ii. Heart high-beating, triumph-*bewreathed.

  2.  Forming intensive verbs, with sense of ‘thoroughly (extension of 1), soundly, much, conspicuously, to excess, ridiculously.’ (Some of these occur only in the past participle.) † Bebait, to bait or worry persistently; bebothered; † bebreech, to breech soundly; bebusied, † becheck; † becheke, to choke, stifle; beclamour, becompliment, † becost, becovet, becrowd, becrush, becumber; † bedare, to defy; † bedrown; bedrowse, to make drowsy; bedrug, beduck; † bedunch, to strike against; † be-earn, be-elbow, † befavour, befilch; † beflap, to clap; beflout, beflustered, befraught; begall, to gall, fret, or rub sore; † beglose, to deceive; † begrain, to dye in the grain, color permanently; † begreet, begut, behallow, † behelp; † behusband, to economize to the full; bekick, belade, † belash, belull; † bemar, to injure seriously; bemartyr, bemaze, † bemeet, bemuzzle, bepaid, beparch, beparody; † bepart, to divide, share; † bepiece, to piece up, patch up; † bepierce; † bepile, to pile up; † bepill, to pillage completely; bepoetize; † bepress, to oppress; † bepride; bequoted, quoted to excess; † beragged, † berinse; besanctify, to besaint; besauce, bescent, bescorch; † bescorn, to cover with scorn; † bescourge, bescrape, beshake; beshiver, to shiver to atoms; beshod, † beshower, beshrivel, † besinge (OE. besengan); beslap, to slap soundly; besnowball; † besob, to soak; besoothe; † bespend, to spend, waste; † besplit, besqueeze, † bestab, bestay, besteer; bestock, to stock thoroughly; bestore, † bestrip, besuit, besweeten, † betalk, † bethreaten, † betire; † betrace, to mark all over, to streak; † betwattle (dial.), to bewilder; bewasted, wasted away; beweary, bewelcome, bewidow, bewomanize; † bewound, to wound seriously; † bewreak, to revenge.

  1599.  Thynne, Animadv. (1865), 61. This syllable (be) is sett before to make yt moore signyficante and of force; as, for ‘moone’ we says ‘bemone,’ for ‘sprincled,’ ‘besprincled’; for ‘dewed,’ ‘bedewed,’ &c.

  1589.  Almond for P., 40. It was not for nothing … that he so *bebaited his betters.

1866.  Harvard Memor. Biogr., I. 263. Seventy miles distant—a long way in this *bebothered state.

1617.  Collins, Def. Bp. Ely, II. x. 504. As if his wits were *be-breecht.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, III. v. (1632), 490. They are not *bebusied about Rhetorike flowers.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. (1641), 114/1. Brutish Cham … In scornful tearms his Father thus *becheckt.

c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 239. His richtwise deme, þe non ne maie *bechece, non beswice.

1832.  Whately, in Life (1866), I. 150. He whined and *beclamoured … but all to no purpose.

1832.  trans. Tour Germ. Prince, IV. v. 195. The chief magistrate … thought fit to *becompliment me by the mission of two of his colleagues.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, X. viii. 135. Na lytill thyng … Hes hym *bycost the frendschip of Ene.

1883.  Gd. Words, 448. The begrudged, *becoveted good of half a lifetime.

1860.  Trollope, Framley P., I. xiv. 281. Barsetshire … is a pleasant, green, tree-*becrowded county.

1607.  Rowlands, Fam. Hist., 37. Eskeldart Guy’s sword did so *becrush.

1863.  G. Kearley, Links in Chain, iv. 74. Snails, much despised, bekicked, and *becrushed.

1550.  Coverdale, Spir. Perle, xxi. Wks. 1844, I. 151. Why should any man … *becumber himself about that thing?

1599.  Peele, David & Beths., Wks. II. 74. The eagle … emboldened … to *bedare the sun.

1584.  Hudson, Judith, in Sylvester, Du Bartas (1608), 694. You Tyrant … Who hath *bedround the world with blood.

1877.  J. Hawthorne, Garth, II. IV. xxxii. 31. Nor was it the lack of public recognition which had *bedrowsed him.

1874.  Motley, Barneveld, II. xi. 19. England and France distracted and *bedrugged.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 42. To the flood he came … And deepe himselfe *beducked in the same.

1567.  Drant, Horace’ Ars Poet., B vj. Daunce and *bedunche the grounde with fote.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., X. liv. 244. Her owne *byearned lot.

1848.  H. Miller, First Impr., vii. (1857), 119. Sorely *be-elbowed and be-kneed.

a. 1633.  Munday, Palm. of Eng., ii. One of her *befavoured knights.

1566.  Studley, Seneca’s Agamemn. (1581), 155. Hercules … left the groue *befilched cleane.

1388.  Wyclif, Lament. ii. 15. Alle men passynge bi the weie *biflappeden with hondis on thee.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 232. You had escaped from thence wounded, abhorred, *beeflowted.

1864.  Morn. Star, 25 June, 4. Some panting, blushing, *beflustered honourable member.

1568.  T. Howell, Newe Sonn. (1879), 144. For thou in Barke so well *befraught, hast al our ioyes away.

a. 1656.  Bp. Hall, Defiance to Snoy (R.). Pines … *begald alone With the deep furrowes of the thunder-stone.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 383. Þou … *By-glosedest hem and [by]-gyledest hem and my gardyn breke.

1855.  Singleton, Virgil, I. 204. With full hue of glassy green *Begrained.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. vii. 63. With hartly luif *begrait hir thus in hy.

1648.  Herrick, Poems, App. (1869), 433 (D.). Whose head beefrindged with *behallowed tresses Seemes like Apollo’s.

1481.  Caxton, Myrr., III. xii. 160. A grete philosophre … whiche coude *byhelpe hym.

1640.  A. Harsnet, God’s Summ., 388. Bee carefull then to *Be-Husband every moment of thy time.

1862.  J. Brown, in Illustr. Melbourne Post, 26 July. Many generations of starved, *bekicked, and downtrodden forefathers.

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, I. 197. Friendly men receive The curse-*beladen wanderer.

1458.  Paston Lett., 311, I. 422. *Belassch hym, tyl he wyll amend.

1631.  Brathwait, Whimzies, 46. To dandle him in the lappe of securitie, and *belull him in his sensuall lethargie.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XXVI. 10701. Paris … was pricket at his hert, To se his men so *be-mard, & murtherit.

1662.  Fuller, Worthies, I. 2. He *bemartyreth such who as yet did survive.

1879.  Howells, L. Aroostook (1883), II. 174. Stanifrid stood *bemazed.

1656.  S. H., Gold. Law, 61. But now the Laicks are a Lay people … till some Moses *be-meet with them.

1857.  Carlyle, Misc., iv. 86 (D.). The young lion’s whelp has to grow up all bestrapped, *bemuzzled.

1838.  Hawthorne, Amer. Note Bks. (1871), I. 147. A *bepaid clergyman.

1586.  W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (1870), 77. Workmen … with boyling heate so *beparched.

1828.  Blackw. Mag., XXIV. 591. It has been bespouted, bequoted, and *beparodied.

1531.  Elyot, Gov. (1580), 7. Hiero … counsailed him to *beparte his importable labours.

1578.  Florio, 1st Fruites, 50. A language confused, *bepeesed with many tongues.

1839.  J. Darley, in Beaum. & Fl. Wks. (1839), I. Introd. 31. Unlike him [i.e., Caesar] *bepierced and bescratched.

a. 1726.  Vanbrugh, Journ. Lond., I. i. Bandboxes … were so *bepiled up.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 232. You had escaped from thence wounded, abhorred, and also *beepilled.

1865.  Morn. Star, 20 Nov. The most *bepoetised case of crim. con. on record.

1591.  in Farr, S. P. (1845), I. 141. To rescue me *beprest I do thee pray.

1690.  E. Fowler, Serm. Bow-Ch., 16 April, 16. They would … *bepride themselves the more in their own strength.

1822.  Blackw. Mag., II. 64. Bethumbing and *bequoting their beauties.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Chipault, He is all to *be ragged and rent.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas (1608), 1013. Princes Whose rage their realms with … bloud *berinses.

1826.  Scott, Woodst., v. *Besanctified as you are.

a. 1674.  Milton, Moscovia, Wks. (1738), II. 147. Rare dishes … *besauc’d with Garlick and Onions.

1863.  A. B. Grosart, Small Sins, 40. A … *be-scented, be-ribboned little fox!

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 52. Hector … thee Greekish nauye *beskorched.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pers. T., ¶ 204. Than was he *bescorned, that oonly schulde be honoured.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 17771. Bath bi-scurget and bi-spit.

1865.  Athenæum, No. 1951. 375/3. No *bescraped cathedrals.

1664.  Cotton, Scarron., 24. Have you not seen … A water-dog … *Beshake his shaggy pantaloons?

1556.  Abp. Parker, Psalter xxxiv. 87. God hateth the proud and them *beshenth.

1648.  Herrick, Noble Numb., Wks. II. 203. That cloude … *Beshiver’d into seeds of raine.

1850.  Clough, Dipsychus, II. ii. 69. Hexameters … *Beshod with rhyme.

c. 1420.  Pallad. on Husb., VI. 12. And yf the rayne *beshoure.

1821.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Wife, iii. (D.). That *beshrivelled face and mien.

1340.  Ayenb., 230. Þe prive cat *bezengþ ofte his scin.

1858.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., IV. x. I. 488. Philip’s Father, son of the *Beslapped.

1611.  Chapman, May Day, Plays (1873), II. 360. ’Twere a good deed, to … *besnowball him with rotten egges.

1609.  Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXXV. viii. 259. The ground was *besobbed and drenched with the mid-Winter frosts that now thawed.

1614.  Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, vi. 60. The trembling Lady … *besoothes him.

1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 96. Ixion *bespent his seede vpon the Cloude.

1614.  Chapman, Odyss., VIII. 398. All his craft *bespent.

a. 1640.  Jackson, Creed, IX. Wks. VIII. 445. Unless abundance of wit hath *besplitted his understanding.

1600.  Rowlands, Lett. Humours Blood, xxiii. 29. Drinke with his dart hath all *bestabbed mee.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., I. lxii. Tristrem … seyd … How stormes hem *bistayd.

a. 1618.  J. Davies, Sonn. Sir T. Erskin (D.). How blest wert thou that didst thee so *besteere.

1648.  Herrick, Poems, App. (1869), 439 (D.). Lett hym … Soe good a soile *bestocke and till.

1661.  Hickeringill, Jamaica, 16. *Bestored with all sorts of fruit-bearing Trees.

1340.  Ayenb., 123. Þe holy gost be þise zeue yefþes *bestrepþ þe zeue zennes uram þe herte.

1648.  Herrick, Hesp., I. 166. Dew … *besweetned in a … violet.

1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., xxviii. The same … *betalk’d on long.

1635.  Quarles, Embl., III. xi. My rock-*bethreaten’d soul.

1594.  Carew, Tasso (1881), 17. Like rest to gaine in like *betyred plight.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 288. A goost … lyke hym in blood *betraced.

1686.  Goad, Celest. Bodies, III. iv. 507. They are *betwatled in their Understandings.

1844.  S. Nayler, Reynard, 29. Poor Bruin thus was sheer *betwattled.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 221. My … time-*bewasted light Shall be extinct with age.

1636.  Healey, Theophrast., 55. Hee … is all to *bewearied.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 81. King Helenus … vs … *bewelcomd.

1787.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 127. I shall now feel *bewidowed.

1653.  Hemings, Fatal Contr. O man *be-womaniz’d!

1422–61.  Songs & Carols 15th C. (1856), 87. Many man … wyste hym wel *bewreke, The hadde wel levere myn hed to breke.

  3.  Forming derivative verbs with privative meaning ‘off, away,’ as in BEDEAL, BENIM, BEREAVE. A very common use of be- in OE. and ME., prob. originating in words like BE-SHEAR, ‘to cut all round,’ whence ‘to cut off or away’; but no longer in living use in forming new derivatives.

  4.  Making verbs transitive, by adding a prepositional relation: primarily ‘about,’ as in BE-SPEAK, speak about (or for, to), BE-MOAN, moan about (or over); which sense can usually be detected under the various against, at, for, to, on, upon, over, by, etc., required by modern idiom:

  † Bebark, to bark around or at; † becack, to deposit ordure on; bechatter, to environ with chattering, etc.; † bechirm, to chirm (as birds) around; † bechirp, to chirp about; beclang, beclatter; † becrave (OE. becrafian), to crave for; becrawl, to crawl all over; becroak, to croak round or at; † becry, to cry at, accuse; bedin, to fill with din or noise; bedribble, to dribble upon (e.g., as a dog); bedrivel; bedrizzle; † bedwell, to dwell in or around; † befleet, to flow round; † befret, to fret or gnaw away; befuddle, to make stupid with tippling; begaze, to gaze at; † beglide, to slip away from, escape; † beglitter, to irradiate; begroan, to groan at; † begruntle, to make uneasy; behoot, to hoot at; bejuggle, to get over by jugglery, to cheat; † belag, to make to lag: † beleap, to leap on, ‘cover’; † bemew, † bemoult, to mew or moult upon; bemurmur, to murmur at or against; † bemute (of birds), to mute or drop dung on; beparse, to plague with parsing; bepiss, to piss on, wet with urine; bepreach, to preach at; bereason, to reason with, overcome by reasoning; † bireme, to cry out upon; beride (OE. berídan), to ride beside, to override; † berow, to row round; † bescumber, to scumber on; beshine (OE. bescínan), to shine on; beshit(e (OE. bescítan) = becack (Obs. in polite use, but common in ME. and early mod.E. literature); beshout, to shout at, applaud; † beshriek, to shriek at; † besigh, to sigh for; † besmell, to smell out; besmile, to smile on; † bespew, to spew on; bestare, to stare at, to make staring; bestraddle, to straddle across, bestride; bestream, to stream over; beswarm, to swarm over; † beswelter; beswim, to swim upon; bethunder; † betipple, to muddle by tippling; betravel, to travel over, to overrun with travellers; bevomit, to vomit all over; bewhisper, to whisper to; bewhistle, to whistle round.

1340.  Ayenb., 66. Þe felle dogge þet byt and *beberkþ alle þo þet he may.

1598.  Florio, Incacare, to *becacke.

a. 1618.  J. Davies, Paper’s Compl., Wks. (1876), 75 (D.). He all my breast *becackes.

1875.  B. Taylor, Faust, I. xxi. 191. If he can’t every step *bechatter.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 279. Hi me *bichirmeþ [v.r. bichermet] and bigredeth.

1600.  T. Morley, in Lyric P. (Percy Soc.), 51. Every bird upon the bush *bechirps it up so gay.

1875.  A. Smith, Burns’ Wks. (Globe), Introd. 13. A dingy churchyard hemmed by narrow streets—*beclanged now by innumerable hammers.

1832–53.  Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs), Ser. I. 77. Why sae incessantly deave and *beclatter me, Teasing me mair than a body can bide?

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1388. Ðoȝte he, ðis maiden wile ic … *bicrauen.

1787.  Beckford, Italy, etc., II. 19. An oozy beach … *becrawled with worms.

1861.  Temple & Trevor, Tannhäuser, 52. Let … the hoarse chough *becroak the moon!

c. 1440.  Morte Arth. (Roxb.), 89. Launcelot of treson he *be cryed.

1880.  Swinburne, Stud. Song, 192. The darkness by thunders *bedinned.

1620.  Bp. Hall, Hon. Mar. Clergy, I. § 8, Wks. (1628), 747. This whelpe of theirs commingit cineros, *bedribbles their ashes.

1653.  A. Wilson, Jas. I., Pref. 4. Why should we *bedribble with our Pens, the Dust that rests there?

1721.  Bailey, Bedrawled, bedrabbled, bedrivelled: cf. BEDRAVEL.

1883.  Harper’s Mag., Jan., 167/1. The *bedrizzled windows of an express train.

1802.  W. Taylor, in Robberds, Mem., I. 412. Gentry of narrow income used to *bedwell Montreuil. Ibid. (1817), in Month. Mag., XLIII. 236. The marble caves ye now *bedwell.

a. 1300.  K. Horn, 1396. Strong castel he let sette, Mid see him *biflette.

1598.  Greene, Jas. IV. (1861), 207. A constant heart with burning flames *be-fret.

1802.  W. Taylor, in Robberds, Mem., I. 411. I could only … *begaze the site of Lord Nelson’s misemployment.

c. 1300.  in Wright, Lyric P., xxx. 87. That ded he shal *by-glyde.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 30. Shee turned with rose color heaunlye *beglittred.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. iii. (D.). [He] shall find himself *begroaned by them.

a. 1670.  Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. 131 (D.). The Spaniards were *begruntled with these scruples.

1838.  Emerson, Misc., 118. It is travestied and depreciated … it is *behooted and behowled.

1680.  Hickeringill, Meroz, 12. To *bejuggle and beguile the silly Rabble. Ibid. (1705), Priest-cr., II. Pref. A iij. *Bejuggl’d Mob! you are the Tools, That Priests do work with called Fools.

1721.  Bailey, *Belagged, left behind.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. iii. 207. Makand his stedis *beleip meris vnknaw.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 448. So scuruily bescuruide and *bemewde.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, III. ix. (1632), 561. Some of Platoes Dialogues: *bemolted with a fantasticall variety.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. iv. II. 231. Beshouted by the Galleries … *bemurmured by the Right-side.

1875.  Lowell, Poet. Wks. (1879), 458. She loves yon pine-*bemurmured ridge.

1634.  A. Warwick, Spare Min. (1821), 110. The heron … *bemuting his enemie’s feathers to make her flagge-winged.

1880.  Grant White, Every-Day Eng., 270. Grammar that has so weighed down our poor *beparsed English-speaking people.

1481.  Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 6. There he hath *be-pyssed my chyldren where as they laye.

1658.  Ford, Witch of Edm., IV. i. Ready to *bepiss themselves with laughing.

1764.  T. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), II. 16. Ye all *bepiss’d yourselves for fear.

1809.  W. Irving, Knickerb., II. viii. (1849), 130. Our worthy ancestors … never being *be-preached and be-lectured.

1880.  World, 13 Oct., 8. She is alternately *bepreached and bepraised by middle-aged spinsterhood.

1826.  E. Irving, Babylon, II. VI. 154. We are *bereasoned out of our faith by the intellectual apostacy of the time.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 29. Nu shalt [þu] … *biremen him mid euel wordes.

1690.  D’Urfey, Collin’s Walk, II. (D.). Those two that there *beride him, And with such graces prance beside him.

1848.  in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. vi. 300. When an insect so *beridden is taken up, the mites disperse.

c. 1205.  Lay., 20128. He wolde … æc Bristouwe abuten *birouwen [1250 birowe].

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, III. ix. (1764), 218. This … pedant Mortimers numbers With muck-pit Esculine filth *bescumbers.

1625.  B. Jonson, Staple News, V. ii. Did Block *bescumber Statute’s white suit?

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, I. Pref. 23. The large sweeping sun-*beshone tiers of an ancient theatre.

a. 1000.  Ags. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 507. Caccabatum, *besciten.

a. 1300.  K. Alis., 5485. *Bishiten and bydagged foule.

a. 1683.  Oldham, Wks. & Rem., 81. Flies which would the Deity *beshite.

1727.  Swift, Acc. E. Curll, Wks. 1755, III. I. 158. I have been frighted, pumped, kicked … and *beshitten.

1828.  Carlyle, Misc., I. 156. Betrumpeted and *beshouted from end to end of the habitable globe.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 67. Alle ho … the *bi-schricheth and bi-gredet.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 201. Þe sinfulle þe his sinnes … sore *bisicheð.

1803.  Ladies’ Diary, 26. Colonial settlements I made, And Spain *be-smelt the prize.

1867.  Cayley, in Fortn. Rev., Nov., 590. The levels *besmile thee of ocean.

c. 1600.  Stow, in Three 15th c. Chron. (1880), 162. e howse was mervelously … *by spewed.

c. 1220.  Leg. Kath., 309. Þe Keiser *bistarede hire wið swiðe steape ehnen.

1780.  Beckford, Italy, etc., I. 224. That hobgoblin tapestry which used to *bestare the walls of our ancestors.

1807–8.  W. Irving, Salmag., 12 (D.). The little gentleman who *bestraddles the world in the front of Hutching’s Almanack.

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 488. Shall My dwelling-place … be *bestreamed with rains.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 34. Troians with rough seas stormye *besweltred.

1805.  W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., III. 59. Rivers which bridges have yoked, and navigation *beswims.

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., A iiij b. This poysoned Dolldreanche hath *betyppledd the senses.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. iv. II. 229. An explosive crater; vomiting fire, *bevomited with fire!

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., To Rdr. Self *bewhispers us, that it stands us all in hand to be forgiven as well as to forgive.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. vi. (D.). Dumouriez and his Staff … sprawl and plunge for life, *bewhistled with curses and lead.

  5.  Forming trans. verbs on adjectives and substantives, taken as complements of the predicate, meaning To make: as BEFOUL, to make foul, orig. to surround or affect with foulness; BEDIM, to make dim; BEFOOL, to make a fool of; BESOT, to turn into a sot. In modern use, nearly all tinged with ridicule or contempt; cf. to beknight with to knight. a. Formed with adj.: † bebrave (1576), to make brave; bedirty, bedismal, bedumb; † befast (OE. befæstan), to fasten; † begaudy, † begay, † beglad, begray, begreen, begrim; † begrimly, to begrime; † beguilty; † bepale, bepretty, † bered; beshag, to make shaggy; † beslow, to retard; besmooth, † besour, bewhite. b. With sb.: bebaron, to make into a baron; bebishop, beclown; † becollier, to make as black as a collier; becoward; † bedaw (a 1529), to make a ‘daw’ or fool of; bedeacon (1589), bedoctor, † bedolt (= besot), beduchess, bedunce, befop, beking, beknight; belion, to make a (society) lion of; beminstrel; bewhig, to convert into a whig.

1842.  Miall, in Nonconf., II. 33. Be-mitred and *be-baroned bishops.

1576.  in Collier’s E. E. Pop. Lit., xvi. 40. Dyvers … gladly would have mee, And being their wyfe would trimly *bebrave me.

1609.  Rowlands, Crew Gossips, 24. O wretch, O Lob, who would be thus *beclown’d?

1593.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (1871), 60. Too foul-mouthed I am, to becollow, or *becollier him, with such chimney-sweeping attributes.

1831.  Heidiger, Didoniad. A lot of fellows so *becowarded by their stay on shore.

a. 1529.  Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, 182. Ye may well be *bedawyd.

1589.  Hay any Work, 74. The old porter of Paddington, whom John of London *bedeaconed and beminstrelled.

1623.  Accident Blacke Friers, 12. [They] must run from the pure waters of Shiloe, to *bedirty themselves in the filthy puddels of mens traditions.

1803.  Bristed, Pedest. Tour, II. 525. It [a shirt] was … begrimed and *bedirtied.

1751.  Student, II. 259. Let us see your next number … *bedismalled with broad black lines.

1806.  Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 364. Harry will be *bedoctored in July.

1856.  Vaughan, Mystics, II. VIII. v. 59. The *be-doctored wiseacres of all the universities of Europe.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 183. Young men without experience … *bedolted of the thinges of this world.

1804.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Wks. (1812), V. 180. She’s begrac’d and *beduchess’d already.

1615.  Bp. Hall, Contempl. N. T., IV. ii. Every soul is more deafened and *bedumbed by increasing corruptions.

1611.  Cotgr., Philogrobolizé du cerveau … astonied, *bedunced, at his wits end.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 43. Motion, which I think is altogether *befasted to Body.

1866.  Reader, 24 Feb., 201/1. The courtier in his new Court suit *be-fopt.

1640.  J. Gower, Ovid’s Fast., 310. Her breasts with glittring gold *begaudy’d were.

1648.  J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. § 75 (R.). Beauteous things … *Begay the simple fields.

a. 1617.  Hieron, Wks., II. 199. To *beglad your hearts.

a. 1624.  Bp. M. Smyth, Serm. (1632), 234. Age … *begrayeth our head.

1864.  D. Mitchell, Sev. Stories, 300. Hillsides … *begreened by a thousand irrigating streamlets.

1870.  H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., xiii. 267. They … tarnish and *begrim the brightest colours.

c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), II. 105. Ye were so *be-grymlyd and yt had bene a sowe.

1627.  Bp. Sanderson, Serm., I. 263. Dost … *beguilty thine own conscience with sordid bribery.

1831.  Greville, Mem. (1875), II. xiv. 153. He [Leopold] would do anything to be *beking’d.

1794.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Celebration, Wks. III. 422. Behold once-Quaker Benjamin *be-knighted.

1808.  Scott, in Lockhart (1839), I. 11. Many worshipful and *be-knighted names occur to my memory.

1837.  New Month. Mag., LI. 183. Be-scented and *be-lioned petlings!

1640.  T. Carew, Lady to Inconst. Serv. Those perjur’d lips of thine, *Bepal’d with blasting sighes.

1872.  C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., x. 210. What has he done but … belittle and *be-pretty this whole … country?

1604.  Rowlands, Looke to It, 27. Your head *beshagg’d with nittie lowsie lockes.

1868.  Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), IV. 201. All *beshagged with forest.

1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., IV. 20. How art thou clogg’d With dull mortality, *beslow’d … In thine owne frailty!

1615.  Chapman, Odyss., VIII. 495. The Graces … with immortal balms *besmooth her skin.

a. 1660.  Hammond, Serm., xv. Wks. 1683, IV. 668. This old leaven that so *besoures all our actions.

1852.  G. P. R. James, Pequinillo, I. 154. Five-and-thirty years of peace have so *betravelled the world.

1832.  Southey, Q. Rev., XLVIII. 300. Lord Nugent is lamentably *bewhigged.

1678.  Ripley Reviv’d, Vision, 12. The Concave of this secret place will be so *bewhited with the fumes.

  b.  To call, to style, to dub with the title of, etc. Often with a depreciatory or contemptuous force: as be-blockhead, † be-blunderbus, be-brother, be-coward, † behypocrite, be-lady, be-ladyship, belout, bemadam, bemistress, bemonster, berascal, be-Roscius, bescoundrel, bevillain.

1765.  Tucker, Lt. Nat., I. 476. He so *be-blockheaded and *be-blunderbust me about as was enough to hurry anybody, and throw them off their guard.

1881.  Phillipps-Wolley, Sport in Crimea, 80. The old gentleman was … much given to kissing and *be-brothering his friends.

1752.  Fielding, Covent Gard. Jrnl., Wks. (1840), 712. If another hath kicked you, be sure to *becoward him well.

1612.  J. Davies, Muse’s Sacr., 75. How would’st Thou now *behypocrit man’s hart.

1811.  [E. Nares], Thinks-I-to-Myself (ed. 4), II. 38 (D.). How Mrs. Twist did *beladyship my poor mother.

1614.  B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, V. iii. (D.). They do so all to *bemadam me, I think they think me a very great lady.

1605.  Camden, Rem., 157. He rated and *belowted his Cooke.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 239/1. Were so *bemadam’d, *bemistrist and Ladified by the beggers.

1692.  Christ Exalted, cxxxix. 105. Not be-heriticking, not *be-monstring Dr. Crisp.

1743.  Fielding, Jon. Wild, II. iii. She beknaved, *berascalled, berogued the unhappy hero.

1596.  Nashe, Saffron Walden, V ij. M. Lilly and me, by name he beruffianizd and *berascald.

1774.  Goldsm., Retal., 117. While he was *be-Roscius’d and you were be-prais’d!

1885.  Blackw. Mag., April, 543/2. Garrick’s generation *be-Rosciused him.

1786.  Wolcott, To Boswell, Wks. 1794, I. 313. Where surly Sam … Nassau *bescoundrels.

a. 1734.  North, Exam. (1740), 247 (D.). After Mr. S. Atkins had *bevillained the Captain sufficiently.

  6.  Forming trans. verbs on substantives used in an instrumental relation; the primary idea being; a. To surround, cover, or bedaub with, as in BECLOUD, to put clouds about, cover with clouds, BEDEW. Thence, by extension, b. To affect with in any way, as in BENIGHT, BEGUILE, BEFRIEND. In both sets there is often an accompanying notion of ‘thoroughly, excessively,’ as in 2. c. An ancient application, no longer in living use, was to express the sense of ‘bereave of,’ as in BEHEAD, BELIMB, etc., q.v. Cf. 3, above.

  a.  † Be-ash, to cover or soil with ashes; † beblain, † bebloom, beboulder, bebutter, becap, becarpet, bechalk, becloak, becobweb, becolo(u)r; becoom, † becolme, to smear with coom; becrime, becurtain, † bedot; † bedowle, to cover with dowle or soft hair; bedust, befetter, befilth, beflannel, beflounce, beflour, beflower, befoam, befringe, befume, † beglare, begloom, † begum, behorn, behorror, belard, † beleaf, † beloam; † bemail, to cover with mail; bemantle, bemat, bemeal, bemuck, bepicture, bepimple, beplague, bepowder, berust, bescab, bescarf, bescurf, bescurvy, beslime, besugar, betallow, bethorn, betowel, beulcer, bevenom, bewig, † bewimple.

  b.  † Beback, to furnish (a book) with a back; † bebed, to furnish with a bed; bebog, to entangle in a bog, embog; † bebrine, to wet with brine; bebutterfly, to engross with butterflies; becivet, to perfume with civet; becomma, to sprinkle with commas; bedawn, beday, to overtake with dawn or daylight; † bedebt, to indebt; bedinner, to treat with a dinner, give a dinner to; † bedown, to fill with down; † befame, to make famous; † befancy, to fill with fancies; befiddle, to engross with a fiddle; befire; befist, to belabor with the fists; beflea, to infest (as) with fleas; † beflum (dial.), to deceive; † befrumple, to crease into frumples or clumsy folds; befume, to affect with fumes; † begall, to fill with gall, embitter; † beginger, to spice with ginger; † beglew, -glue, to make game of, befool; begulf, to engulf; † behearse, to place in a hearse; behymn, beice, bekerchief; beladle, to ladle up; belecture, to ply with lectures; beliquor, to soak with liquor, to alcoholize; † beman, to fill with men, to man; bemissionary, to pester with missionaries; bemole, to mark with moles or dirty spots; bemoon, to moon-strike; bemusk, to perfume with musk; † benettle, benightmare, be-ode; bepaper, to cover or pester with papers; bephilter, to treat with a philter; bephrase; † bepistle, to inflict epistles on; bequalm, to affect with qualms; † berampier, to surround with a rampart; berebus, to inscribe with a rebus; berubric, to mark with a rubric or red letter; besaffron, to stain or mingle with saffron; beschoolmaster, to furnish with schoolmasters; bescutcheon, to furnish with an escutcheon; besentinel, to surround or guard with sentinels; † besin, to stamp with sin, to stigmatize as sinful; besiren, to charm with a siren; beslipper, to present with slippers; besnivel, besnuff; besonnet, to address or celebrate in sonnets; bespeech; bespy, to dog with spies; besquib; bestench, bestink, to afflict with stench; bestraw, to furnish or fill with straw; betag, to furnish with a tag; betask, to charge with a task; betocsin, betrumpet; betutor, to furnish with tutors; be-urine; beverse, to celebrate in verse; beveto, to put a veto on; bewall, bewelcome; bewhisker, to adorn with whiskers; bewinter, to overtake or affect with winter; bewizard, to influence by a wizard (cf. bewitch); beworm, to infest with worms; pass. to breed worms; beworship, to honor with worship.

  (Some of these are used only in the passive voice.)

1530.  Palsgr., 444/2. You have *beasshed your gloves.

1599.  H. Buttes, in Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.), App. 93. The leaues *be-ashed or warmed in imbers and ashes.

1858.  Reeves & Turner’s Bk. Catal., Dec. (No. 278) Folio, newly *bebacked.

a. 1300.  Havelok, 420. He hem ne dede richelike *bebedde.

1605.  J. Davies, Humours, Wks. (1876), 43 (D.). *Beblaine the bosome of each mistres.

1585.  Hunnis, Handf. Honisuck., Gen. xl. 8. In the Vyne were Braunches three That al *bebloomed were.

1662.  Fuller, Worthies (1840), I. 458. His feet were fixed in Ireland, where he was not *bebogg’d.

1862.  H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 341. The country, though greatly *bebouldered, is wild like fertile Skaane.

1652.  Benlowes, Theoph., XI. lxviii. 202. Thou peul’st, not to repent, but to *bebrine thy woes.

1611.  Cotgr., Embeurrer, to butter or *bebutter.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. iii. The souls of connoisseurs … have the happiness … to get all be-virtued … *be-butterflied, and be-fiddled.

1821.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Wife, v. (D.). He thus appear’d … *Becapp’d in due conformity.

a. 1800.  Cumberland, Mem., II. 364 (L.). A floor … splendidly *bechalked by a capital deseyner.

1805.  W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., III. 46. The distilled perfume of the bookmaker’s style, which bemusks and *becivets every London composition.

1598.  Sylvester, Batt. Ivry, in Du Bartas (1608), 1096. Fire and Smoak As with thick clouds, both Armies round *becloak.

1611.  Cotgr., Emmantelé … *becloked … wrapped as in a cloke.

1788.  Burns, Lett., 9 Sept. Throw my horny fist across my *becobwebbed lyre.

1851.  Carlyle, Sterling, II. iv. Anywhere else in this much becobwebbed world.

1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 57 b. To make black and *becolour the Caruels as it were most browne.

1881.  Academy, 14 May, 355. The senseless *‘becommaing’ of many Shakespere texts.

a. 1300.  K. Horn, 1064. He makede him a ful chere, And al *bicolmede his swere.

1882.  Pall Mall Gaz., 18 April, 2. A ship’s fireman all *becoomed and besmoked.

1844.  E. Warburton, Cresc. & Cross, xiv. (1859), 144. Every man of any nation, who has so *becrimed himself as to have no country of his own.

1878.  H. Phillips, Poems, 71. The heaven with clouds *becurtained.

1827.  Blackw. Mag., XXI. 783. [He] exclaimed, with visible apprehension of being *bedawned, ‘Methinks I smell the morning air.’

1882.  G. Macdonald, Cast. Warl., III. xxvii. 374. My spirit is the shadow of thy word, Thy candle sun-*bedayed!

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VIII. vii. 20. Albeit that to the childring of Priame King I was *bedettit.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. x. II. 81. They are harangued, *bedinnered, begifted.

1843.  Carlyle, Past & Pr., 380. Can he do nothing for his Burns but … lionise him, *bedinner him?

1620.  Sir J. Davies, Past. W. Brown. What though time yet have not *bedowld thy chin.

1611.  Cotgr., Enduvetter, to *bedowne; to fill … with downe.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1584), 280. Aristrato … most *befamed the art of phisick.

1567.  Turberv., Ovid’s Ep., 110 b. For everie point I was *Befancide well.

1610.  G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., in Farr’s S. P. (1847), 64. How thou *befanciest the men most wise.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. x. I. 268. The mute representatives of … *befettered, heavy-laden Nations.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. iii. Be-pictured, be-butterflied, and *befiddled.

1593.  Nashe, Christ’s T. (1613), 115. The Buck, hauing *be-filtht himselfe with the female.

1613.  F. Robartes, Revenue Gosp. (title-p.), A sparke vnseen … *Befir’d her neast, and burnt vp all her wealth.

1718.  Motteux, Quix. (1733), I. 284. Sancho … rent his Beard … *befisted his own forgetful Skull.

1859.  M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, xi. 228. Men who … whenever a common cold overtook them … caudled and *beflanneled themselves.

1870.  Lowell, Among My Books (1873), 283. The savages by whom the continent was *beflead rather than inhabited.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 202. Miss Phœbe … is said to have becurled and *beflounced herself at least two tiers higher on … holidays.

1598.  Florio, Farinare, to *beflowre or *bemeale.

1814.  Scott, Wav., lxxi. Then … I *beflumm’d them wi’ Colonel Talbot.

1700.  Dryden, Fables, 106. Froth … *befoams the Ground.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Flocquer, To hang forth loose, to sit bagging, flagging, or *befrumpled, as an ouer-wide garment.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas (1608), 809. If such a folly have *befumed your Brain.

1598.  Gilpin, Skial., i. Play the scold … *Begall thy spirit.

1611.  Cotgr., Gingembré, *begingered; seasoned … with Ginger.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. xvi. The countenance of the *beglared one.

1835.  Beckford, Recoll., 46. A square … *begloomed by dark-coloured painted windows.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Minor P., 115. They went from the game begylyd and *beglued.

a. 1813.  A. Wilson, Foresters, Wks. 246. *Begulfed in mire we laboured on.

1730.  Swift, Lady’s Dress.-room. *Begumm’d, bematter’d, and beslim’d.

1611.  Cotgr., Encrasser, to *begryme … bedawbe with slouenlie filth.

1594.  Peele, Batt. Alcazar, 88. In fatal bed *behearst.

1577.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep., 314. An Oxe … so *behorned.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 109. She … did *behorne his head.

1857.  Thackeray, White Squall (D.). The Turkish women … Were frightened and *behorror’d.

1863.  N. Brit. Daily Mail, 13 Oct. *Be-iced in Melville Bay, and presumed to be lost.

1620.  Shelton, Quix., III. xiii. I. 247. The Curate would not permit ’em to veil and *bekerchief him.

1885.  Spectator, 8 Aug., 1043/1. They were … rather unpleasantly *belarded.

1862.  Thackeray, Four Georges, i. 37. The honest masters of the roast *beladling the dripping.

1631.  Brathwait, Whimzies, Ruffian, 83. So *beliquored and belarded, as they have oyle enough to frie themselves.

1611.  Cotgr., Enfueiller, to *beleafe; to stick or set … with leaues.

1598.  Florio, Smaltare … To *belome … to ouercast with mortar or loame.

1594.  Nashe, Terrors of Night, Gij b. Their armes as it were *bemayled with rich chaynes and bracelets.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 23. Þah an castel beo wel *bemoned mid monne.

1620.  Shelton, Quix., IV. vii. 47. A white long gather’d Stole, so long that it did *bemantle her from Head to Foot.

1820.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Consol., ii. (D.). The straw-roof’d cot … With spreading vine *bemantled o’er.

1868.  Morn. Star, 3 Feb. The chaste hall so scrupulously hearthstoned and *bematted.

1623.  Favine, Theat. Hon., II. xiii. 208. The idolatry of the Syrians … was planted among the Ægyptians, who *bemealed the Greeks therewith.

1656.  Earl Monm., Advt. fr. Parnass., 118. As much *bemealed as those millers who keep there day and night.

1884.  in Pall Mall Gaz., 31 May, 2. Till the end of his days he is *bemissionaried by the society which has made him what he is.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 4. Children Þat wolen *bymolen it many tyme maugre my chekes!

1866.  Lond. Rev., 23 June, 697/2. If you get *bemooned on a shoemaker’s holiday, you had best return home at once.

1530.  Palsgr., 306/1. *Bemooked, breneux.

1611.  Cotgr., Emmusquer, to *bemuske, or perfume with muske.

1611.  Cotgr., Enortier, To *benettle; to sting … rub ouer, with nettles.

1820.  Keats, St. Agnes, xlii. All his warrior-guests … Were long *be-nightmared.

1814.  Southey, Life & Corr. (1850), IV. 78. Present copies to the persons *be-oded.

1837.  Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 356. His well *be-papered cranium.

1861.  M. Arnold, Pop. Educ. France, 93. French administration is *bepapered to death.

1690.  Secr. Hist. Chas. II. & Jas. II., 36. The King … had so *bephiltered them with his potions of Aurum potabile, that they passed another act to his heart’s desire.

1853.  F. Hall, Ledlie’s Miscell., II. 171. Englishmen … are not easily *bephrased to death.

a. 1818.  Macneill, Poems (1844), 122. The shelving palm-girt beach … *Bepictured o’er.

1648.  Herrick, Hesp., I. 52. His cheeks *be-pimpled, red and blue.

1860.  All Y. Round, No. 49. 545. Have taken to drinking, and have got blotchy and bepimpled in consequence.

1589.  Hay any Work, 36. Ile *bepistle you D. Prime, when I am at more leasure.

1870.  Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Aug., 3. To furnish a concrete and basis for our *beplagued civilization.

1646.  G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 52. When we are *be-qualm’d, that long imbraces has Made dull Desire.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 5. O Troy wals stronglye *berampyerd.

1655.  Fuller, Hist. Camb. (1840), 140. Sir Hugh Ashton … in a tomb … *be-rebussed, according to the ingenuity of that age, with an ash growing out of a tun. Ibid., Ch. Hist., XI. vii. § 43 VI. 103. We have *be-rubrick’d each day … with English blood.

1631.  Brathwait, Whimzies, 129. His conscience is a Delphian sword … yet annoint him and you *berust him.

1611.  Cotgr., Ensafrani, *besaffroned … seasoned, stained, or coloured with Saffron.—Crousteux, crustie, *bescabbed.

1631.  W. Saltonstall, Pict. Loq. (1635), F viij. She is so *bescarf’d that the winde must not breath on her face.

1826.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 327. Miss Reid … *be-scarfed and be-veiled … and all in a flutter of bridal finery.

1810.  Coleridge, Friend (1818), III. 224. Young men … expensively *be-schoolmastered, be-tutored, be-lectured, any thing but educated.

1653.  Urquhart, Rabelais, V. v. They are thus bescabb’d, *bescurf’d … with Carbuncles, Pashes, and Pockroyals.

1630.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Nat. Eng. Poetry, Wks. II. 248/2. So scuruily *bescuruide and bemewde?

1762.  Churchill, Ghost, III. 640. A … hearse, *Bescutcheon’d.

1622.  H. Sydenham, Serm. Sol. Occ. (1637), 62. Our Apostle *be-sinnes it over and over.

1861.  Trollope, Barchester T., 346. Thus *be-sirened, Mr. Arabin behaved himself very differently from Mr. Slope.

1602.  B. Jonson, Poetast., Prol. (R.). Our fry of writers may *beslime his fame.

1868.  Helps, Realmah, xv. (1876), 416. *Beslimed with disagreeable and injurious talk.

1866.  Reader, 24 March, 299. Poor men!… to be be-teapotted and *be-slippered.

1611.  Cotgr., Enroupié, *besniueled, dropping at the nose.

1728.  Young, Love Fame, VI. (1757), 147. Unwash’d her hands, and much *besnuff’d her face.

1860.  J. Kennedy, Swallow B., v. 60. Belles, who had been *besonnetted … for ten years before.

1845.  Carlyle, Cromwell’s Lett. & Sp. (1871), II. 126. Solemnly welcomed, bedinnered, *bespeeched. Ibid. (1837), Fr. Rev., III. III. viii. 132. Getting them *bespied.

1813.  Q. Rev., IX. 107. She was *besquibbed and pasquinaded.

1568.  Like to Like, in Hazl., Dodsl., III. 317. To *bestench the place!

1611.  Cotgr., Empuantir, to *bestinke; to fill with stinke. Ibid., Empaillé, *bestrawed, filled … furnished with straw.

1611.  Cotgr., Ensuccrer, to *besugar; to sweeten … with sugar.

a. 1618.  Sylvester, Colonies, 356 (D.). Thrace subtle Greece *beswarms.

1762.  Churchill, Ghost, III. 640. Bescutcheon’d and *betagged with verse.

1638.  Ford, Fancies, i. 2. I will *betallow thy tweezes.

1857.  Heavysege, Saul (1869), 268. The nymph … would have *betasked me like a very slave.

1884.  G. Hawley, Wit, Wisd. etc. Richter, 66. The whole … lay prickly and *bethorned before him.

1857.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VII. v. 263. It has been *betocsined, bestormed.

1846.  H. Miller, Rambles Geol. (1858), 399. The *betowelled monkey.

1662.  Fuller, Worthies, II. 520 (D.). Satan … having Job in his power … only *be-ulcered him on his skin.

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., II. (1593), 51. All *bevenimd was his toong.

a. 1764.  Churchill, P. Profess. When their Ancestors *beversed That glorious Stuart James the first.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. xii. II. 85. The Priest-Decree, *bevetoed by Majesty.

1250.  Lay., 18631. He hadde þare tweie castles *biwalled swiðe faste.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 81. King Helenus … vs as his freends freendlye *bewelcomd.

1762.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, V. i. 14. ’Twas she who *bewhisker’d St. Bridget.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Xmas Dinner (D.). Striplings *bewhiskered with burnt cork.

1866.  Lond. Rev., 9 June, 640/1. It drives him to *bewig his bald head.

1393.  Gower, Conf., II. 360. Where lay *bewimpled a visage.

1647.  Cowley, Mistr. (1569), 47. Tears, that *bewinter all my Year.

1652.  Sparke, Prim. Dev., Pref. The Sun … visiting the *bewintered earth.

1862.  H. Taylor, St. Clement’s Eve, 23. She cannot … Be more *bewizarded than I’m bewitched.

1604.  Dekker, Honest Wh., in Dodsley (1780), X. 253. The body … is gone *be-worm’d.

1787.  Beckford, Italy, etc., II. 198. For what purpose they [state pageants] are bedecked and *beworshiped.

  7.  Forming participial adjectives, which unite the preceding senses, esp. 6 and 2, in the notion of ‘covered or furnished with,’ usually in a conspicuous, ostentatious, unnecessary or overdone way. In modern use (e.g., with Carlyle) the force of the be- is often merely rhetorical, expressing depreciation, ridicule, or raillery, on the part of the speaker, towards the appendage or ornamentation in question; cf. booted and bebooted, gartered begartered, wigged bewigged. Some of these words have no form without be-, and closely approach the verbs in 5, e.g., bedaughtered, bepilgrimed ‘overrun with pilgrims.’ This is now the most frequent use of be-, and the formations of this kind are endless; e.g., bebelted, becloaked, becoroneted, becupolaed, bediamonded, befathered, beflogged, beflounced, bemitred, bemuslined, beperiwigged, beribboned, beringleted, besleeved, beturbaned, beuncled, bewinged. See the quotations.

1839.  Lady Lytton, Cheveley, I. v. 105. The gilt-wood *be-balled and *bechained candelabras.

1854.  H. Strickland, Trav. Th., 18. A besworded … *bebelted official takes all passports.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. iii. Couriers arrive *bestrapped and *bebooted.

1859.  Reeve, Brittany, 138. [A] short-tailed jacket, *bebuttoned and braided throughout.

1884.  Harper’s Mag., Sept., 556/1. Elderly *becapped women.

1883.  Century Mag., XXVII. 110. [A] country … *becarpeted, and becurtained with grass.

1861.  Sat. Rev., 18 May, 502. The figure of the *becassocked priest spoils all.

1882.  Mrs. Heckford, Lady Trader in Transvaal, 302. A band of fine-looking Kaffirs, all *be-cat-tailed, armed to the teeth.

1598.  Sylvester, Vocation, Du Bartas (1608), 311. Gawdy plumes of Foes (*be-cedared brave).

1785–95.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Lousiad., III. Wks. I. 267. *Be-chain’d with all the splendor of Lord May’rs.

1869.  Daily News, 3 July, 5/1. Profuse of genial welcome to the gouty and the frisky, to the bewigged and the *bechignoned alike.

1879.  Mrs. Houston, Wild West, 85. The smiling remonstrance of more than one of his *becoiffed listeners.

1863.  Grosart, Small Sins, 40. It is only a ‘small sin,’ a smug, be-furred, *be-combed … ‘little fox!’

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. i. II. 283. Open-Scoundrels rode triumphant, bediademed, *becoronetted, bemitred.

1700.  Congreve, Way of World, III. xv. Thou art so *becravated, and so beperriwigg’d.

1885.  Times, 28 July, 3/1. Very ancient illustrations, crowded with *becrinolined ladies.

1860.  Reade, Cloister & H., lv. (D.). My master was at the gate *becrutched.

1808.  W. Irving, Salmag., xiv. (1860), 331. The portrait of a young lady dressed in a … gown … be-flowered and *be-cuffed.

1771.  H. Walpole, Lett., III. 375 (D.). The Collisée … is a most gaudy Ranelagh, gilt, painted, and *becupided like an opera.

1883.  Vernon Lee, in Mag. Art., Nov., 3/1. Two rooms … stuccoed, gilded, flowered, becupided.

1861.  Russell, in Times, 10 July, 5/1. A city [Vicksburg] on a hill, not very large, besteepled, *becupolaed, large-hoteled.

1883.  Century Mag., XXVII. 110. Is there another country under the sun so *becushioned, becarpeted, and becurtained with grass?

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. VI. iii. I. 180. Comes this ‘Saviour of France,’ beshouted, *becymballed by the world.

1830.  Diary of Nun, I. 233. *Bedaughtered dowagers.

1884.  Med. Times, 28 June, 875/2. The wan-matrons and *be-dentelured debutantes.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. i. II. 283. Open-Scoundrels rode … *bediademed, becoronetted, bemitred.

1840.  Poe, Ulalume, Poems (1859), 70. Astarte’s *bediamonded crescent.

1879.  Hingston, Austral. Abr., ix. 101. The garden of China is much *bedotted with mounds of earth that are untouched and uncultivated.

1614.  Rich, Honest. Age (1844), 50. Starcht bands, so *be-edged, and be-laced.

1746.  H. Walpole, Corr. (1837), I. 105. Your campaign … well *be-epitheted would make a pompous work.

1864.  Daily Tel., 9 Feb. Matrons … *befanned, bejewelled, and speechless.

1839.  Lady Lytton, Cheveley, I. ii. 34. You *be-fathered and *be-uncled young gentlemen.

1885.  C. Hall, Amer. Missionary, June, 175. Young men [Indians] nude, and painted in parti colors and *befeathered.

1635.  Quarles, Emblems, III. i. (1818), 138. Surveying round her dove-*befeather’d prison.

1761.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. xii. 57. Hung round and *befetish’d with the bobs and trinkets of criticism.

1832.  Carlyle, Remin., I. 43. His pale, ghastly, *befilleted head.

1846.  Landor, Wks., II. 458. The eagle eye of Buonaparte was *befilmed.

1882.  Standard, 28 April, 6. Has the town been *beflagged and decorated.

1884.  Cassell’s Fam. Mag., March, 216/1. Aprons … *befrilled and adorned with lace.

1860.  H. Marryat, Resid. Jutland, I. i. 4. Lubec—her mediæval architecture—her houses turreted and *begabled, staircase-fashion (corbie, the Scotch term it), statued, and *befriezed.

1849.  Miss Mulock, Ogilvies, xxix. (1875), 218. The be-laced and *be-furbelowed throng around.

1879.  Sir G. Scott, Recoll. ii. 87. [The churches were] *begalleried to the very eyes.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 486. The beasts, sharp horn … and dewlapped neck were well *begarlanded.

1797.  W. Taylor, in Monthly Mag., IV. 134. Lordlings all *begarter’d and bestarr’d.

1839.  Bailey, Festus (1848), 207. Or diamond beetle round *beglobed with light.

1611.  Cotgr., Enganté, *begloued.

1858.  Lond. Rev., Oct., 112. Bathing machines, with *begowned tenants.

1812.  Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, iii. (D.). Thus *behatted, Down on the grass the Doctor squatted.

1742.  Fielding, Miss Lucy in T. (1762), 179. This … be-curl’d, *behoop’d.

1691.  Ray, S. & E. Country Wds., 89. *Behounc’d; Tricked up and made fine.

1884.  Pall Mall Gaz., 7 Oct., 5/1. This awful, befringed, *bekilted, and beflounced dual trouser.

1848.  H. Miller, First Impr., xi. (1857), 172. Venerable dwellings *belatticed with lead.

1835.  Beckford, Recoll., 91. The wildest be-pined, and be-rosemaryed, and *be-lavendered country.

1787.  Burns, Wks., III. 90. Gie Wealth to some *be-ledger’d Cit.

1854.  Thackeray, Newcomes, II. 58. The steps of a fine *belozenged carriage were let down.

1880.  Blackw. Mag., Feb., 243. Officers much *be-medalled and much be-crossed.

1878.  J. Thomson, Plenip. Key, 7. Tap your mulls or bejewelled and *beminiatured caskets.

1842.  Miall, in Nonconf., II. 33. *Be-mitred und be-baroned bishops.

1858.  E. Jacson, Harvest Festiv., 7. We … dined in a long, airy, whitewashed and *be-mottoed cattle shed.

1882.  Daily News, 10 Oct., 2/4. The becurled and *bemoustachiod tenor.

1850.  Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, vi. 61. A very pretty girl you would make, too, if you were properly *bemuslined.

1842.  H. Miller, O. R. Sandst., vii. 155. Its betailed and *bepaddled figure (the Plerichthys).

1849.  Thoreau, Week on Concord, Ess., 331. The stumpy, rocky, forested and *bepastured country.

1614.  Rich, Honest. Age (1844), 26. They are so be-paynted, so *be-periwigd.

1884.  E. Gosse, in Fortn. Rev., April, 534. The rider, the august and beperiwigged Kurfürst.

1854.  H. Strickland, Trav. Th., 6. A chapel correctly *bepewed à l’Anglaise.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. iii. All be-virtued, *be-pictured, be-butterflied, and be-fiddled.

1857.  Carlyle, Misc., iv. 168 (D.). There was no literary shrine ever so *bepilgrimed.

1611.  Cotgr., Empillier, *bepillered; set on pillers; made with pillers.

1858.  H. Miller, Rambl. Geol., 375. Sallied out, *beplaided and umbrellaed.

1852.  G. P. R. James, Pequinillo, I. 154. Five-and-thirty years of peace have so … *be-railroaded … the world.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. ii. Nut-brown maids and nut-brown men, all clean-washed … and *beribanded.

1863.  W. Thornbury, True as Steel, I. 104. Their *beribboned waists and huge beruffled sleeves.

1614.  Purchas, Pilgr., VI. xiv. 647. They found others thus *beringed.

1883.  G. A. MacDonnell, Chess Life-Pictures, 166. A Frenchman, whose be-ringed fingers and be-jewelled scarf betokened a certain amount of pecuniosity.

1880.  Mrs. Parr, Adam & Eve, vii. A petticoated figure, with a dark *beringleted face.

1862.  Times, 26 Dec., 5/4. Following the fashion of his tribe, Mr. Anthony Trollope comes to us *berobed and bewigged to tell the story of Orley Farm.

1865.  Reader, 15 April, 427/3. Those *berouged, leering, stripped sluts.

1792.  Bot. Mag., VI. 213. The Stipulae on the stalk … making it look as if *beruffled.

1865.  Mrs. Whitney, Gayworthys, i. (1879), 12. The small, starched, ribboned and beruffled creature.

1848.  Blackw. Mag., LXIII. 576. Long galleries vainly draperied and *beshawled with all the rich wonders of modern manufacture.

1864.  Miss Yonge, Trial, II. 150. Cora tripped in, all *besleeved and smartened.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. xi. I. 271. Mayor and Curate … also walk *bespaded, and in tricolor sash.

1859.  Evening Star, 2 April, 2/5. These nineteenth century *bestayed women.

1884.  A. A. Putnam, Ten Yrs. Police Judge, v. 28. The dearly beloved and dearly *betaxed people.

1873.  Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 162. Its cobweb-work, *betinseled stitchery.

1856.  Sat. Rev., 123. Be-cloaked and *be-togaed statesmen.

1611.  Cotgr., Entourellé … *betowred; bedecked … with turrets.

1828.  Carlyle, in Page, De Quincy, I. xiii. 279. *Betrodden by picturesque tourists.

1865.  Pall Mall Gaz., No. 166, 11/2. Fluttering ribbons, *betuckered bodices.

1858.  De Quincey, Autob. Sk., Wks. I. 48 (D.). Bewhiskered and *beturbaned.

1884.  Chambers’ Jrnl., 4 Oct., 635/2. Never did a *be-uniformed people more thoroughly believe in the dignity of dress.

1866.  Alford, in Life (1873), 389. Falmouth, with the spruce well *be-vesselled basin.

1784.  Wilberforce, Life, I. 70. The river running between two mountains *be-vined.

a. 1849.  Poe, Conq. Worm, Poems (1859), 87. An angel throng *bewinged.

1869.  Mrs. Palliser, Hist. Lace, xxii. 268. To keep the ruft erect, *bewired and starched.

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 342. ‘Accursed,’ or, one might say, *‘bewrathed,’ lying under the wrath and curse of God.

  ¶ Examples of the capabilities of be- are seen in be-belzebubbed (= bedevilled), be-blacksmithed, be-cockney’d, to be-documentize (1593), to bedoltify, befrenchify (1603), be-Frenchman’d, be-Germanized, be-lady-loved, belawgiven (Milton) legislated to, be-Legion-of-Honoured, to be-lish-lash to whip soundly, to be-Mary to give us too much of ‘Mary,’ to be-pamphletize, to be-trash.

1814.  Coleridge, Lett., 16 July. All last Sunday I was thoroughly *be-belzebubbed.

1864.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., IV. 316. Superb betailored running at the ring; *beblacksmithed running at one another.

1850.  W. Irving, Salmag., ii. (1860), 39. This poor town … has long been *be-Frenchman’d, *be-cockney’d, be-trash’d.

1593.  Nashe, Lent. Stuffe, in Harl. Misc., VI. 157 (D.). Digests … cited up in the precedents and *bedocumentized most locupleatley.

1698.  T. Rymer, Short View, 146. Never was old deputy Recorder … so blunder’d and *be-doultefied, as is our Poet.

1603.  Florio, Montaigne, I. lvi. (1632), 173. In a cape-cloake-hood *befrenchifide.

1856.  Southey’s Lett. (1856), I. Pref. 14. Unnecessary disquisitions, or *be-Germanised excursuses.

1863.  Grosart, Small Sins, 40. Only a ‘small sin,’ a smug, be-furred, be-combed, be-scented, be-ribboned, *be-lady-loved ‘little fox!’

1643.  Milton, Divorce, Wks. (1851), Introd. 6. The Almighty … whom they do not deny to have *belawgiv’n his own sacred people with this very allowance.

1860.  All Year Round, No. 52. 34. The bestarred, beribboned, *be-Legion-of-Honoured … pensioned throng.

1602.  in Hazl., Dodsl., IX. 28. He that minds trishtrash … Him will I *be-lish-lash.

1812.  G. Colman, Br. Grins, Lady of Wreck, II. x. The world has been much *be-Maryed of late … we have innumerable sweet little stanzas … ending with ‘my Mary.’

1884.  Punch, 9 Feb., 62/1. The right to bespatter and *be-pamphletise any particular leader.