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Webster 1913 Edition


Bethink

Be-think′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bethought
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Bethinking
.]
[AS.
beþencan
; pref.
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.
Shakespeare
The rest . . . may . . .
bethin
k themselves, and recover.
Milton.
We
bethink
a means to break it off.
Shakespeare
Syn. – To recollect; remember; reflect.

Be-think′

,
Verb.
I.
To think; to recollect; to consider.
Bethink ere thou dismiss us.”
Byron.

Definition 2024


bethink

bethink

English

Verb

bethink (third-person singular simple present bethinks, present participle bethinking, simple past and past participle bethought)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To think about, to recollect.
  2. (reflexive) To think of (something or somebody) or that (followed by clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
    • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 49:
      However, and just before I was due to take the entrance exam at the age of thirteen, my mother bethought herself that it might be worth taking a look at the place where I was due to be conscripted for the next five formative years.
  3. To meditate, ponder; to consider.
  4. To determine, resolve.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:bethink.

References

  • bethink in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913