v. Also 3–6 bi-, by-. For forms see SEEM v. [f. BE- 2 + SEEM v.]
† 1. intr. To seem, appear, look. (Almost always in 3rd pers.) Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 148. Moiseses hond … bisemede oðe spitelvuel.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., Prol. 152. He telles … Alle þer lymmes how þai besemed.
1470–85. Malory (1816), I. 191. Sir, thou beseemest well.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 82. She sittes … in a goodly scarlett brauely beseeming.
1779. Mason, Eng. Gard., XIV. (R.). His manly form, His virtues … beseem’d no sentiment to wake Warmer than gratitude.
b. impers. with dat. obj. or to.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, VII. 2886. Paris was pure faire … full stithe hym besemyt.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur (1816), I. 361. Him beseemeth well of person, and of countenance, that he shall prove a good man.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. (1641), 2/1. To deep Wisdome and Omnipotence, Nought worse beseems, then sloth and negligence.
2. To suit in appearance; to become, befit, be in accordance with the appearance or character of. With dative obj. (rarely to).
a. orig. with well, ill, or other qualification: lit. To appear or look well, etc., for a person to wear, to have, to do, etc.
a. 1225. Juliana, 55. Wel bisemeð þe … to beo streon of a swuch strunde.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 309. A poynt of sorquydryȝe þat vche god mon may euel byseme.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 110. As though it shulde him well beseme That he all other men can deme.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. vi. (1495), 193. Semely clothynge bysemyth to them well that ben chaste damoysels.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., I. i. ad fin. A prison may best beseem his holiness.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., II. VI. 137. A duty well beseeming the Preachers of the Gospel.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., ii. 41. It would ill beseem you, so young and so comely, to go further.
b. Hence, without qualification, in the sense of ‘well beseem.’
1388. Wyclif, Prov. xvii. 7. Wordis wel set togidere bisemen not a fool.
a. 1520. Myrr. Our Ladye, 126. Euerlastynge holynesse bysemyth lorde thy howse.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 277. Sad pause and deep regard beseen the sage.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, III. xi. (1840), 134. Being more prodigal of his person than beseemed a general.
1729. T. Cooke, Tales, 45. Her Mind beseem’d her Angel’s Face.
1837. Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), II. i. 12. I have already laughed more than beseems my cloth.
1884. Browning, Ferishtah (ed. 3), 61. Man acts as man must; God, as God beseems.
3. absol. To be seemly, to be becoming or fitting, to be meet: orig. with qualification as in 2.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 8734 (Trin.). Say me what wol best biseme.
1382. Wyclif, Rom. i. 28. Tho thingis that acoorden not, or bysemen not. Ibid. (1388), Hebr. vii. 26. It bisemyde that sich a man were a bischop to us.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 552. The receyuers wolden expende thilk good … not other wise than it bisemed.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 32. His reverend haires The knight much honord, as beseemed well.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 331. To treat thee as beseems.
1871. Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 44. Silence beseemeth most.
