Talk:beweep

RFV discussion: September–October 2017

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beweep

Previously tagged, not listed here.

2. To bewet with tears, or as with tears.

• This sense appears in the Century dictionary, Webster's 1913, etc.

3. To weep

• This sense appears in the Century dictionary, Webster's 1913, etc. (references Chaucer)

- Amgine/ ^t·e 23:26, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

The Chaucer cite is listed in the MED entry 'bewēpen', which leads to Troilus and Criseyde IV.916: "That he shal come? Aris up hastily,/ That he yow nat bywopen thus ne fynde,/ But ye wole have hym wood out of his mynde."

Then there's King Lear I.iv: "Old fond eyes,/ beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out,/ And cast you, with the waters that you lose,/ To temper clay.". I can't tell whether that's the transitive sense 2 ("this cause" is being wet with tears) or 3: ("this cause" is the cause of the tears). Then there's Sonnet 29: "When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,/ I all alone beweep my outcast state," which I take to be sense 3: he's weeping about his state, not on it. (The wiki page shows the 1609 Quarto, and the spelling there is "beweepe", but I think that can safely be called a variant. I take that back. They're sense 1.

Which raises the question: why are they split? Maybe two senses: direct transitive (current sense 2: to wet the object with tears), and indirect transitive (to weep about the [optional] object) --Catsidhe ^{(verba, facta)} 02:32, 18 September 2017 (UTC)

Our transitive and intransitive senses exactly mirror the Century Dictionary order; iow there is no justifiable reason I can see. - Amgine/ ^t·e 03:00, 18 September 2017 (UTC)

Sense 3 is cited Kiwima (talk) 22:04, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

RFV-resolved - Sense 2 deleted, sense 3 passed. Kiwima (talk) 19:48, 23 October 2017 (UTC)