Bestialize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bestialized ; present participle & verbal noun Bestializing .] To make bestial, or like a beast; to degrade; to brutalize.

The process of bestializing humanity.
Hare.

Bestially adverb In a bestial manner.

Bestiary noun [ Late Latin bestiarium , from Latin bestiarius pert. to beasts, from bestia beast: confer French bestiaire .] A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.

A bestiary . . . in itself one of the numerous mediæval renderings of the fantastic mystical zoölogy.

Saintsbury.

Bestick transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bestuck ; present participle & verbal noun Besticking .] To stick over, as with sharp points pressed in; to mark by infixing points or spots here and there; to pierce.

Truth shall retire
Bestuck with slanderous darts.
Milton.

Bestill transitive verb To make still.

Bestir transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bestirred ; present participle & verbal noun Bestirring .] To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun.

You have so bestirred your valor.
Shak.

Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
Milton.

Bestorm intransitive verb & t. To storm. Young.

Bestow transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bestowed ; present participle & verbal noun Bestowing .] [ Middle English bestowen ; prefix be- + stow a place. See Stow .]
1. To lay up in store; to deposit for safe keeping; to stow; to place; to put. "He bestowed it in a pouch." Sir W. Scott.

See that the women are bestowed in safety.
Byron.

2. To use; to apply; to devote, as time or strength in some occupation.

3. To expend, as money. [ Obsolete]

4. To give or confer; to impart; -- with on or upon.

Empire is on us bestowed .
Cowper.

Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor.
1 Cor. xiii. 3.

5. To give in marriage.

I could have bestowed her upon a fine gentleman.
Tatler.

6. To demean; to conduct; to behave; -- followed by a reflexive pronoun. [ Obsolete]

How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night in his true colors, and not ourselves be seen ?
Shak.

Syn. -- To give; grant; present; confer; accord.

Bestowal noun The act of bestowing; disposal.

Bestower noun One that bestows.

Bestowment noun
1. The act of giving or bestowing; a conferring or bestowal.

If we consider this bestowment of gifts in this view.
Chauncy.

2. That which is given or bestowed.

They almost refuse to give due praise and credit to God's own bestowments .
I. Taylor.

Bestraddle transitive verb To bestride.

Bestraught adjective [ Prefix be- + straught ; probably here used for distraught .] Out of one's senses; distracted; mad. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Bestreak transitive verb To streak.

Bestrew transitive verb [ imperfect Bestrewed ; past participle Bestrewed , Bestrown ; present participle & verbal noun Bestrewing .] To strew or scatter over; to besprinkle. [ Spelt also bestrow .] Milton.

Bestride transitive verb [ imperfect Bestrode (Obsolete or R.) Bestrid ; past participle Bestridden Bestrid , Bestrode ; present participle & verbal noun Bestriding .] [ Anglo-Saxon bestrīdan ; prefix be- + strīdan to stride.]
1. To stand or sit with anything between the legs, or with the legs astride; to stand over

That horse that thou so often hast bestrid .
Shak.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus.
Shak.

2. To step over; to stride over or across; as, to bestride a threshold.

Bestrode imperfect & past participle of Bestride .

Bestrown past participle of Bestrew .

Bestuck imperfect & past participle Bestick .

Bestud transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bestudded ; present participle & verbal noun Bestudding .] To set or adorn, as with studs or bosses; to set thickly; to stud; as, to bestud with stars. Milton.

Beswike transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon beswīcan ; be- + swīcan to deceive, entice; akin to Old Saxon swīkan , Old High German swīhhan , Icelandic svīkja .] To lure; to cheat. [ Obsolete] Gower.

Bet noun [ Prob. from Middle English abet abetting, Old French abet , from abeter to excite, incite. See Abet .] That which is laid, staked, or pledged, as between two parties, upon the event of a contest or any contingent issue; the act of giving such a pledge; a wager. "Having made his bets ." Goldsmith.

Bet transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bet , Betted ; present participle & verbal noun Betting .] To stake or pledge upon the event of a contingent issue; to wager.

John a Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on his head.
Shak.

I'll bet you two to one I'll make him do it.
O. W. Holmes.

Bet imperfect & past participle of Beat . [ Obsolete]

Bet adjective & adverb An early form of Better . [ Obsolete]

To go bet , to go fast; to hurry. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Beta noun [ Greek bh^ta .] The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, β. See B , and confer etymology of Alphabet . Beta (B, β) is used variously for classifying, as: (a) (Astron.) To designate some bright star, usually the second brightest, of a constellation, as, β Aurigæ. (b) (Chemistry) To distinguish one of two or more isomers; also, to indicate the position of substituting atoms or groups in certain compounds; as, β-naphthol. With acids, it commonly indicates that the substituent is in union with the carbon atom next to that to which the carboxyl group is attached.

Beta rays (Physics) Penetrating rays readily deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances, as radium. They consist of negatively charged particles or electrons, apparently the same in kind as those of the cathode rays, but having much higher velocities (about 35,000 to 180,000 miles per second).

Betacism Be`ta*cis"mus noun Excessive or extended use of the b sound in speech, due to conversion of other sounds into it, as through inability to distinguish them from b , or because of difficulty in pronouncing them.

Betaine noun [ From beta , generic name of the beet.] (Chemistry) A nitrogenous base, C ₅ H ₁₁ NO ₂ , produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beet-root molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine . It has a sweetish taste.

Betake transitive verb [ imperfect Betook ; past participle Betaken ; present participle & verbal noun Betaking .] [ Prefix be- + take .]
1. To take or seize. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

2. To have recourse to; to apply; to resort; to go; -- with a reflexive pronoun.

They betook themselves to treaty and submission.
Burke.

The rest, in imitation, to like arms
Betook them.
Milton.

Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
Milton.

3. To commend or intrust to; to commit to. [ Obsolete]

Betaught adjective [ past participle of Middle English bitechen , Anglo-Saxon bet...can , to assign, deliver. See Teach .] Delivered; committed in trust. [ Obsolete]

Bete transitive verb To better; to mend. See Beete . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Bête noire [ Fr., lit. black beast.] Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear.

Beteela noun [ Portuguese beatilha .] An East India muslin, formerly used for cravats, veils, etc. [ Obsolete]

Beteem transitive verb [ Prefix be- + an old verb teem to be fitting; confer Dutch betamen to beseem, German ziemen , Goth. gatiman , and English tame . See Tame , adjective ]
1. To give ; to bestow; to grant; to accord; to consent. [ Obsolete] Spenser. Milton.

2. To allow; to permit; to suffer. [ Obsolete]

So loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
Shak.

Betel (bē"t'l) noun [ Portuguese , from Tamil vettilei , prop. meaning, a mere leaf.] (Botany) A species of pepper ( Piper betle ), the leaves of which are chewed, with the areca or betel nut and a little shell lime, by the inhabitants of the East Indies. It is a woody climber with ovate many- nerved leaves.

Betel nut The nutlike seed of the areca palm, chewed in the East with betel leaves (whence its name) and shell lime.

Betelguese (bĕt"ĕl*jēz) noun [ French Bételgeuse , of Arabic origin.] (Astron.) A bright star of the first magnitude, near one shoulder of Orion. [ Written also Betelgeux and Betelgeuse .]

Bethabara wood (Botany) A highly elastic wood, used for fishing rods, etc. The tree is unknown, but it is thought to be East Indian.

Bethel noun [ Hebrew b...th-el house of God.]
1. A place of worship; a hallowed spot. S. F. Adams.

2. A chapel for dissenters. [ Eng.]

3. A house of worship for seamen.

Bethink transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bethought ; present participle & verbal noun Bethinking .] [ Anglo-Saxon beþencan ; prefix be- + þencan to think. See Think .] To call to mind; to recall or bring to recollection, reflection, or consideration; to think; to consider; -- generally followed by a reflexive pronoun, often with of or that before the subject of thought.

I have bethought me of another fault.
Shak.

The rest . . . may . . . bethin k themselves, and recover.
Milton.

We bethink a means to break it off.
Shak.

Syn. -- To recollect; remember; reflect.

Bethink intransitive verb To think; to recollect; to consider. " Bethink ere thou dismiss us." Byron.

Bethlehem noun [ Hebrew bēth- lekhem house of food; bēth house + lekhem food, lākham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem. Confer Bedlam .]
1. A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam .

2. (Architecture) In the Ethiopic church, a small building attached to a church edifice, in which the bread for the eucharist is made. Audsley.

Bethlehemite, Bethlemite noun
1. An inhabitant of Bethlehem in Judea.

2. An insane person; a madman; a bedlamite.

3. One of an extinct English order of monks.

Bethought imperfect & past participle of Bethink .

Bethrall transitive verb To reduce to thralldom; to inthrall. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Bethumb transitive verb To handle; to wear or soil by handling; as books. Poe.

Bethump transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bethumped or Bethumpt ; present participle & verbal noun Bethumping .] To beat or thump soundly. Shak.

Betide transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Betided Obs . Betid ; present participle & verbal noun Betiding .] [ Middle English bitiden ; prefix bi- , be- + tiden , from Anglo-Saxon tīdan , to happen, from tīd time. See Tide .] To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer.

What will betide the few ?
Milton.

Betide intransitive verb To come to pass; to happen; to occur.

A salve for any sore that may betide .
Shak.

» Shakespeare has used it with of . "What would betide of me ?"