Obs. Forms: 1 bén, 2–4 bene, (6 ? beane). [OE. bœn, bén, cogn. with ON. bón, bœn (Sw., Da. bön):—OTeut. *bôni-z; perh. from root ba- ‘cry’: see BAN.]
Prayer, petition, boon; esp. prayer to God.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke i. 13. Þin bén ys ʓehyred.
1160. Hatton G., ibid. Þin bene is ȝe-herd.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 67. Hu maȝen heo bidden eni bene.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2511. Ðat mind bene ne be for-loren, wið ȝu ben mine bones boren.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 503. Grante me a bene.
1340. Ayenb., 211. Mj bene bi ydiȝt beuore þe.
[1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., 86. Then was the maid in my grandames beanes.
1881. Miss Fothergill, Kith & Kin, xiii. Or was it ‘but a bootless bene’?]
b. Comb. bene-day, ? rogation-day (cf. OE. béntíd); bene-tiðe, -tuðe sb., success in prayer; adj. (OE. béntíðe, -týðe) successful in prayer; benerip = BEDRIPE.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 27. We muȝen mid one worde þese þrie þing bidden, and ben bene tiðe. Ibid., 201. To ure drihten . þat he … ȝife us bene tuðe.
1499. Promp. Parv., 30/2. Beneday, precare.
