Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 1 bóetan, bétan, 2–5 beten, 3–5 bete, 5–6 beete, 6– Sc. beit, 8– beet; (3 betten, 5 beton, bet, beethe, boytt). Pa. t. bet: 1 bétte, 2–5 bette, 4 bett, bet (bete, beit). Pa. pple. bet; 1 béted, 1–5 bet, 3–5 ibet, bett (4 bete, bette). [Common Teut.: OE. bóetan, bétan, to make good, make better, amend = Goth. bôtjan, OS. bôtjan, MDu. boeten, MLG. bôten, OHG. buozzen, MHG. büezzen, G. büszen:—OTeut. *bôtjan to advantage, profit, be of use to, a derivative vb. from bôtâ- good, profit, advantage, in OE. bôt, BOOT, q.v. Now only Sc. and north. dial.; it became obs. in literary Eng. before 1500, while still spelt bete.]

1

  I.  To make good, amend, make amends for.

2

  1.  trans. To make good or better; to mend or repair (things damaged), mend or heal (wounds, sickness), improve (land). Still dial.

3

c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. iv. 21. Þonan ʓesægh oþre tweʓen ʓebroþer … boetende heora nett [Wyclif, makynge aȝein or beetynge her nettis].

4

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 398. Hu ðu meaht ðine æceras betan. Ibid., 116. Ðonne bið hit [the wound] sona ʓebet.

5

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 215. Mineȝeð þat ane niwe cloðes, oðer elde bete.

6

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Reves T., 7. Pipen he koude, and fisshe, and nettes beete.

7

1572.  Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 247. The prouerb is, of palice, kirk, and brig, Better in tyme to beit, nor efter to big.

8

1808.  Jamieson, Sc. Dict. (Provb.), Daily wearing neids yearly beiting.

9

[1873.  Earle, Philol., § 82. The fishermen of Yarmouth have sometimes astonished the learned … by talking of beating their nets (so it sounds) when they mean mending them.]

10

  † 2.  To bring into better state, put right, correct, amend, reform (faults, evil ways, etc.); to make good (misdeeds): a. those of others.

11

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 15. Gif ðec ʓeheres, boetend ðu bist broðeres ðines.

12

a. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. i. 17. Ic hit bete.

13

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom. (1867), 113. Ȝif he hit [uuel] betan mei.

14

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9790. No patriarck ne ȝeit prophete, Miht be sent adames sine to bete.

15

c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 229. That thou woldest come to bete The sunnes that Adam thohte suete.

16

  † b.  To amend, make good (one’s own faults); hence, to repent of, make amends for, expiate, atone for (one’s sin). The usual word in early ME.; afterwards superseded by AMEND. Obs.

17

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., 220. Ealle scylda þe wið god beoð unʓebetta.

18

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 169. Bute his sunnes him ben ere forgieuene · oðer bette.

19

a. 1250.  Moral Ode, 121, in E. E. P. (1862), 29. Hi mithten here sunne beten. Ibid., 138. And gunnen here gultes beten, & betere lif leden.

20

c. 1300.  Beket, 2417. And wende to the holi lond: here synnes forto bete.

21

c. 1325.  Metr. Hom. (1862), 10. [Jon the Baptist] … taht the folk thair sine to bete.

22

  † c.  absol. To amend, repent. Obs.

23

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 223. For þi he [is] wis þe bit and biȝiet and bet bifore dome.

24

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 863. Vorthi he mot … Mid teres an mid wope bete.

25

  3.  To relieve hunger, thirst, or any form of want; to supply wants, needs (Sc. misters). Hence subst. in comb. beet-need, beet-mister. Sc. and north.

26

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3279. Sco þat sal bete me my thrist.

27

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 224. No mon [schal] beete his hunger.

28

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, I. viii. 105. Grantit eik leif wod to hew, and tak Tymmer to beit ayris [= oars] and wther mysteris.

29

1816.  Scott, Tales Landl., IV. 252 (Jam.). She enlarged on the advantage of saving old clothes to be what she called beetmasters to the new.

30

1823.  Blackw. Mag., 314 (Jam.). If twa or three hunder pounds can beet a mister for you in a strait, ye sanna want it.

31

1875.  Lancash. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Beet-need, a help that may be had at will.

32

  † b.  To relieve, help, aid, assist (a person in need or trouble), to supply the wants of. Obs.

33

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9592. And þi pite þat es sa suete Aght þi prisun [= prisoner] o bandes bete.

34

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., A. 756. My makelez lambe þat al may bete.

35

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., 86. Reson betith him so ofte tyme as he stondith ayens þe Synner.

36

c. 1450.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., 51. Who shall mee beete? who shall my bands breck?

37

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, II. 18. With stuff of houshald strestely he thaim bett.

38

  † c.  esp.: To bete one’s bale (see BALE sb.1 6); also to bete one of one’s bale (cf. sense 2). Obs.

39

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 105. Til all oure bale ai for to bete. Ibid., 14415. Þar he … o mani bale þam bete.

40

c. 1440.  Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 223. That was the angell to beton is bale.

41

c. 1460.  Launfal, 971. Sche myghte me of my balys bete.

42

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 233. To beyt [v.r. bete] thar amouris of thar nychtis baill.

43

  II.  To beet a fire.

44

  [The development of this (the chief extant) sense, the antiquity of which is shown, not merely by the OS. fýr bétan, but by its existence in the other Teutonic languages (cf. Du. vuur boeten, LG. für böten, etc.), is somewhat obscure, from the fact that in the earliest instances it appears to mean, not ‘to mend a fire,’ but as in modern Dutch, ‘to make, kindle, put on a fire.’ Perhaps this is to be explained by the primitive conditions (which prevailed more or less till the days of phosphorus matches), according to which fire was not generated anew each time it was required, but was usually propagated by a ‘glede’ from an existing fire, often carried and kept alive for days (cf. Genesis xxii. 6), which was surrounded with combustibles, and ‘beeted’ into a blaze, when a fire was required.]

45

  4.  To make, kindle, put on (a fire). Now dial.

46

c. 885.  K. Ælfred, Oros., VI. xxxii. Ða het he betan þærinne micel fýr.

47

c. 1325.  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 2122. The clerkes … bet a fir strong and sterk.

48

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1012. When bryȝt brennande brondez ar bet þer an-vnder.

49

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1434. Tuo fyres on the auter gan sche beete.

50

c. 1430.  Chev. Assigne, 157. The goldesmyȝth gooth & beetheth hym a fyre.

51

a. 1500.  Sir Aldingar, 53, in Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 168. And fayre fyer there shalbe bett.

52

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 127. Bad beit the fyire, and the candill alycht.

53

1875.  Lancash. Gloss. (E. D. S.), s.v. Beet, Tha mun get up an’ beet t’ fire to-morn.

54

  5.  To mend, make up, keep up, add fuel to, feed (a fire). Still in Sc. See also BOTE, FIRE-BOTE.

55

c. 1205.  Lay., 25977. His fur he beten agon.

56

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 627. Quyl I fete sum quat fat þou þe fyr bete.

57

c. 1386.  Chaucer, 2nd Nonnes T., 581. In a bath thay gonne hir faste schetten, And nyght and day greet fuyr they under betten.

58

1810.  Tannahill, Poems (1846), 48. The wither’d twigs to beet her fire.

59

1826.  J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 262. A fire, that they keep beetin wi’ planks and spars o’ the puir man o’ war.

60

1857.  J. Scholes, Jaunt to See Q., 14 (Lanc. Gloss.). Then aw beetud fire, un rattl’t fire-potter ogen’t back o’th grate.

61

  b.  fig.

62

1784.  Burns, Epist. Davie, viii. It heats me, it beets me And sets me a’ on flame! Ibid. (1787), Wks., III. 179. Or noble Elgin beets the heav’n-ward flame.

63