beteem
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English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From be- + teem (“to befit”). Cognate with Dutch betamen (“to befit, behove, beseem”).
Verb[edit]
beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)
- (transitive, obsolete) To permit; allow; suffer.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 139-143:
- So excellent a king, that was to this / Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven / Visit her face too roughly.
- (transitive, obsolete) To grant, vouchsafe (something to someone); accord; give.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- So would I (said th'enchaunter) glad and faine / Beteeme to you this sword, you to defend [...].
- (transitive, dialectal) To bestow; afford; allow; deign.
Etymology 2[edit]
From be- + teem (“to produce”).
Verb[edit]
beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)
- (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth; produce; shed.
Etymology 3[edit]
From be- + teem (“to empty, pour”).
Verb[edit]
beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)
- (transitive, rare) To pour all about.