English

Alternative forms

• bemene

Verb

bemean ‎(third-person singular simple present bemeans, present participle bemeaning, simple past and past participle bemeant)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To mean; signify; inform.

Etymology 2

From be- +‎ mean ‎(“base, lowly”), from Middle English mene, aphetic variation of Middle English imene ‎(“average, lowly, mean”), from Old English ġemǣne ‎(“mean, common, average”). More at mean.

Verb

bemean ‎(third-person singular simple present bemeans, present participle bemeaning, simple past and past participle bemeaned)

1. To make mean or base, demean.

   • 1973, Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Wild Pitch (Fiction), G. K. Hall, ISBN 9780816161171, page 85:

     I fished carefully, used wet flies and dry, all that I had in my book, and even bemeaned myself by baiting a plain hook with a grasshopper.

Usage notes

• Wontedly used reflexively, as in "to bemean oneself"

Synonyms

• demean

Anagrams

• bename