becalm

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ calm.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkɑːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈkɑm/, /bɪˈkɑlm/, /bɪˈkɔm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːm, -ɑːlm

Verb

becalm (third-person singular simple present becalms, present participle becalming, simple past and past participle becalmed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make calm or still; make quiet; calm.
   • 1589, John Clapham, transl., A philosophicall treatise concerning the quietnes of the mind‎^[1], London: Thomas Newman:

     […] there is neither house nor landes, nor great store of gold & siluer, nor honor and noblenes of blood, nor greatnes of office, and estate, nor the grace and vehemencie of speach, which doth so much lighten, and so sweetlie becalme the life of man, as an vndefiled conscience […]

   • 1717, Delarivier Manley, Lucius, the First Christian King of Britain‎^[2], London: John Barber, act IV, scene 1, page 39:

     Almighty Beauty quite becalms my Rage:
     In looking on thee, I forget thy Crimes:

   • 1897, Opie Read, chapter 6, in Old Ebenezer‎^[3], Chicago: Laird & Lee, page 57:

     “Pardon me,” he said, with a quietness that struck the company with a becalming awe.

2. (transitive, nautical) To deprive (a ship) of wind, so that it cannot move (usually in passive).
   • 1555, Richard Eden (translator), The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, London: Edward Sutton, “The seconde v[o]yage to Guinea,” p. 351,^[4]

     […] there we were becalmed the .xx. day of Nouember from .vi. of the clocke in the mornynge vntyll foure of the clocke at after none.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 214:

     In the following two days, they made fast progress, strong easterly winds driving them down the Channel to where it opened out into the Atlantic; there, they were briefly becalmed.

Anagrams

• beclam, malbec