beteem

English

Etymology 1

From be- +‎ teem (“to befit”). Cognate with Dutch betamen (“to befit, behove, beseem”).

Verb

beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)

1. (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.

2. (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 [...].

3. (transitive, dialectal) To bestow; afford; allow; deign.

Etymology 2

From be- +‎ teem (“to produce”).

Verb

beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To bring forth; produce; shed.

Etymology 3

From be- +‎ teem (“to empty, pour”).

Verb

beteem (third-person singular simple present beteems, present participle beteeming, simple past and past participle beteemed)

1. (transitive, rare) To pour all about.

Anagrams

• bemeet, bemete