beseech

VERB · English

Experimental / limited support

Experimental coverage — measured below Partial on the number of recorded words, definitions, translations, word forms and pronunciation. Treat entries as evidence to check; meanings may be incomplete.

1. Definition: To beg or implore something of (a person).

   formal · transitive

   No translation has been attempted for this sense.

   • Moost noble crysten Quene I byseche yow as ye haue ben euer my specyal good lady and I at al tymes your true poure knyghte vnto my power and as I neuer fayled yow in ryghte nor in wrong sythen the fyrst day kynge Arthur made me knyghte that ye wylle praye for my soule yf that I here be slayne; "Most noble Christian queen, I beseech you as ye have been ever my special good lady, and I at all times your true poor knight unto my power, and as I never failed you in right nor in wrong sithen the first day King Arthur made me knight, that ye will pray for my soul if that I here be slain;" [1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iii, leaf 401r:
   • [W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […] 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With Proper Psalmes, and Lessons for Diuers Feastes and Dayes. [The Accencion Daie. Proper Psalms and Lessons.]”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC, folio lxviii, recto:
   • I flung myself before him on my knees, and with floods of tears besought him to release me from this engagement, assuring him that my cowardice was abject, and that in every point of intellect and character I was his hopeless and derisible inferior. 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, “Story of the Destroying Angel”, in More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 45:
   • after what manner, I beseech you, must the mind proceed in this operation? 1748, [David Hume], Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
   • She besought him, for his Soul's sake to speak the truth. 1887 March 25, Rudyard Kipling, “Watches of the Night”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.; London: W. Thacker & Co., published 1888, →OCLC:
   • Panting a little in his haste, he told her how miserable he was; he besought her to have mercy on him; he promised, if she would forgive him, to do everything she wanted. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXI, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
   • [King Knight defeats the Troupple King.] / Troupple Acolyte: 'HALT! I BESEECH THEE! PLEASE, NO MORE!' 2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Nintendo 3DS, level/area: Royal Pond:

2. Definition: To beg or request for (something).

   formal · transitive

   No translation has been attempted for this sense.

   • [T]he tickets had all been given out, begged, besought long ago. 1990, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, transl., The Brothers Karamazov, San Francisco, North Point Press, →ISBN, page 657:

No paradigm has been compiled for this word yet.

Etymology: From Middle English besechen, bisechen, prefixed form of Old English sēċan (“to seek or inquire about”); compare the doublet beseek, from the same dialect that gave seek. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besäike (“to visit”), Dutch bezoeken (“to visit, attend, see”), German besuchen (“to visit, attend, see”), Swedish besöka (“to visit, go to see”). By surface analysis, be- + seech.

No related word is recorded for this word.