Obs. Also bedrepe, (bederpe), bederepe, -rape, bedripe, bidrip(e, -repe. [OE. bed-ríp, f. bed- prayer, request (see BEAD) + ríp reaping, harvest: lit. ‘reaping by request’; called also bén-ríp, f. bén prayer. Retained as a technical term in charters, etc., and variously corrupted: seems to have become obs. in 15th c.]
A service which some tenants had to perform to their lord, viz. at his request or bidding to reap his corn at harvest-time. The days thus employed were sometimes called boon-days.
1226. 10 Hen. III. Rot. 8 (Blount). Debent venire in autumpno ad precariam quæ vocatur a le bederepe.
1417. E. E. Wills (1882), 27. My poure tenauntes … that haueth yȝeue to me Capouns & bederpes, and Plouwys.
1670. Blount, Law Dict. Bederepe, Bidrepe is a service, which some Tenants were anciently bound to perform, viz. To reap their Landlord’s Corn at Harvest.
