Pa. t. bespoke, and (arch.) -spake. Pa. pple. bespoken, bespoke. For other forms see SPEAK. [Com. WGer.: OE. bi-, besprecan = OS. bisprecan (Du. bespreken), OHG. bisprehhan (MHG. and mod.G. besprechen), f. bi-, BE- + sprecan (specan) to SPEAK. The connection of the senses is very loose; some of them appear to have arisen quite independently of each other from different applications of BE- pref.]
I. intransitive.
† 1. To call out, exclaim, complain that. Only OE.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. x. § 6. Hu unʓemetlice ʓe Romware bemurniað & besprecað þæt [etc.]. Ibid., II. iv. § 7. Ond nu ure Cristne Roma bespricð þæt … [etc.].
† 2. To speak up or out, to exclaim: orig. with some notion of objection or remonstrance; in later times, simply, to raise one’s voice, to speak. Obs. or arch.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 185. Than bispac Otous of Pavi, To Gii he bar gret envie.
c. 1440. Erle Tolous, 877. Then bespake an olde Knyght, Y have wondur, be goddys myght, That syr Autore thus was bestedd.
c. 1500. Deb. Carpenters’ T., in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 17. Than be-spake the polyff With gret strong wordes and styffe.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., III. ii. The Earl of Pembroke mildly thus bespake; ‘My lords,’ [etc.].
1629. Milton, Nativ., vi. Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, II. 201. And thus the chief bespake.
† b. quasi-trans. rare. Obs.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb. Whatever that good old man bespake.
II. transitive.
† 3. To speak against: to charge, accuse; oppose.
a. 1000. Laws of Ethelb., ii. 8 (Bosw.). Hit besprecen biþ.
c. 1000. Psalms (Lamb.) xliii. 17 (Bosw.). Fram stefne besprecendre.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1444. And sȝe ne bi-spac him neuere a del.
1297. R. Glouc., 524. He was of churche inome, tho clergie bispek it vaste.
† 4. To speak about: a. To discuss, advise upon, determine upon. (Also intr. with infin. of purpose.)
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 91. Heo bispeken heom bitweonen þet heo walden ibuȝen.
1297. R. Glouc., 200. Þo þys was syker & byspeke.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 94. Wel thrytty ygedred beoth, And byspekith al his deth.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., IV. ix. 250. She hathe traytted or bespoken for to make hym dey other by poyson or by som other secrete dethe.
† b. To promise. Obs. rare. (Ger. versprechen.)
c. 1320. Cast. Loue, 221. For so hit was to Adam bi-speke, And God nolde no forward breke.
5. To speak for; to arrange for, engage beforehand; to ‘order’ (goods).
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 68. Theare doe lye great kingdooms … bespoken For the.
1602. Return fr. Parnass., III. v. (Arb.), 46. A lodging bespoken for him … in Newgate.
1688. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 367. IV. 143. The six thousand pair of Shoes which he bispoke at Exeter.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 16, ¶ 2. She bespoke the Play of Alexander the Great, to be acted by the Company of Strollers.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 2. His tradesmen … waited upon him to bespeak his custom.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 255. A new set of chains was bespoke.
1839. De Quincey, Murder, Wks. IV. 43. You may have … bespoken a murder.
b. To stipulate or ask for (a favor or the like).
1677. Quest. conc. Oath of Alleg., 11. I must humbly bespeak your pardon.
1786. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), II. 69. I bespeak, beforehand, a right to indulge my natural incredulity.
1818. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 54. With the view … of bespeaking a friendly reception for himself.
1846. Grote, Greece, II. xxiv. 572. Whose patience I have to bespeak.
† c. To request or engage (a person) to do (something). Obs.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 233. Then fairely I bespoke the Officer To go in person with me to my house.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1877), V. 35. Who I feared did come to bespeak me to be Godfather to his son.
1670. Walton, Lives, IV. 293. I must … bespeak the Reader to prepare for an almost incredible story.
1764. Smellie, Midwif., III. 80. I was bespoke … to attend a woman in her first child.
6. To speak to (a person), to address. (Now chiefly poet.)
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., I. iv. My gentle lord, bespeak these nobles fair.
1597. North. Mothers Bless., xiii. When folks thee bespeaken curtesly hem grete.
1677. Hale, Contempl., II. 124. From this high Mountain he bespeaks Mankind.
a. 1703. Burkitt, On N. T., Luke xxiii. 31. These Christ thus bespoke: ‘Weep not for me, but for yourselves.’
1725. Pope, Odyss., XXIV. 508. Medon first th’assembled chiefs bespoke.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, II. xv. 75. The Father of immortals … Frowned upon Juno and bespake her thus.
7. To speak of, tell of, be the outward expression of; to indicate, give evidence of.
1628. Earle, Microcosm., 43. His very countenance and gesture bespeaks how much he is.
1671. Flavel, Fount. Life, viii. 20. Long preparations bespeak the … greatness of the work.
1778. Han. More, Florio, II. 184. Gorgeous banquets oft bespeak A hungry household all the week.
1814. Wordsw., Excurs., I. 855. But her house Bespake a sleepy hand of negligence.
1863. Mrs. C. Clarke, Shaks. Char., iii. 65. Hamlet’s proneness to soliloquy bespeaks the reflective man.
b. with compl.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Pr. Drunkenness, Wks. 1730, I. 31. Those whose smiling aspect bespeaks them friends.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1802), VI. xxxii. 356. Did that bespeak me cruel?
1815. Scribbleomania, 18. Symptoms bespeaking me rash.
c. To tell of or betoken beforehand; to prognosticate, augur.
1711. Swift, Examiner, No. 44, ¶ 3 (J.). Those who … started Fears, bespoke Dangers, and formed ominous Prognosticks, in order to scare the Allies, [etc.].
1719. Young, Revenge, III. i. Anguish, and groans, and death bespeak to-morrow.
1851. Hawthorne, Snow Image (1879), 167. Circumstances that bespeak war and danger.
† d. (as prec. with reverse construction.) Obs. rare.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VI. III. 511. My tongue is so farre from bespeaking such lands with any ill successe.
† e. To bear witness, to declare to. Obs. rare.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 144. We have … only reason to bespeak us, that bulk has a least part.
† 8. To speak (a person) into some state. Obs.
1604. Gallants at Ordin., 19. How a young fellow was even bespoke and jested to death by harlots.
