bespeak
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English *bespecan, besprecan (“to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisprekan (“to discuss, blame”), from Proto-Germanic *bisprekaną (“to speak about, discuss, blame”), equivalent to be- + speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke (“to beseech, speak or negotiate with”), Saterland Frisian bispreke (“to discuss”), West Frisian besprekke (“to discuss”), Dutch bespreken (“to discuss, review, debate”), German besprechen (“to discuss, review, talk about”).
Base: speak
Affixes: be-
Inflected forms:
form: bespeaks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bespeaking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bespoke
pos: verb
tags: past
form: bespake
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
form: bespoken
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: bespoke
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
formal
transitive
examples: [They] bespoke dangers […] in order to scare the allies.
gloss: To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order or reserve in advance.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favour
I walked on into the village, with the desertion of this house upon my mind, and I found the landlord of the little inn, sanding his door-step. I bespoke breakfast, and broached the subject of the house.
gloss: To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to bespeak a calm hearing
I bespeak your patience in advance.
gloss: To forbode; foretell.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
gloss: To speak to; address.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
poetic
transitive
examples: Then ſtaring on her with a ghaſtly Look, / And hollow Voice, he thus the Queen beſpoke.
Spurring his horse, he galloped down to the shore and bespoke them.
gloss: To betoken; show; indicate; depict; foretell; suggest; allude to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: This act bespeaks his kindness.
When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the figure of a man that it bespake him rather a monster.
Turning her looks unconsciously to that part of the assembly where Douglas leaned, engaged in serious contemplation, Ellina chanced to encounter his eye intently fixed upon her; the expression of which bespeaking at once pity and benevolence, her heart, mortified, reproached her for her lightness.
This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.
Are they telling your story vividly, strikingly, in designs that command attention, in colors that bespeak distinction?
[...] the drop in speed only from 66 to 53 m.p.h. up the six miles at 1 in 176-200-167 to Saunderton summit bespoke a hard effort, [...]
gloss: To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Derived words: bespeakable
bespeaker
bespeaking
bespoke
unbespeak
Translations: