▪ I. beware, v.1
(bɪˈwɛə(r))
Forms: 2 ben war, 3–6 be war, be-war, 3–7 bewar, 3–5 be-warr, 5 by-war, 5–6 be ware, 6 bewarre, be wayre, 6– beware.
[The origin of this is involved: 1. OE. had a trans. vb. warian ‘to guard, take care or charge of,’ with a compound bewarian ‘to defend.’ The latter is not certainly found in ME. (where it would have been bewaren); the former survived as ware, common till 1500 with a dative refl. const., esp. in the imperative ware thee! ‘cave tibi, take care of thyself, be on your guard, beware!’; and has been retained down to the present day in the simple imperative ware!, as ‘Ware holes!’ (although in this form it has often since 1600 been mistaken for a contraction of beware! or an interjectional use of the adjective). 2. OE. had also an adj. wær ‘cautus, cautious, on one's guard,’ which survived in ME. as war, ware, common in the phrase to be ware ‘to be on one's guard,’ of which the imperative be ware! was practically = ware thee! aforesaid. 3. From this equivalence of meaning, be ware early began to be treated in some respects as a single word, viz. as a compound of the vb. ware, thus stepping into the place of the OE. bewarian. As early as 1300 we find it written as one word, and even with by as the prefix, and in 14–15th c. it often followed the verbal constructions of the simple ware, even to taking a direct object, as in ‘beware that train’ (c 1500 in 1 e). But on the other hand it was used only in those parts of the vb. where be is found, viz. the imper., infin., and pres. subj. (the indic. being I am ware, thou art ware, etc.). After 1600, the verbal aspect so far prevailed that the inflexions bewares, bewared, bewaring, were used by good writers; but these have again been discarded, and beware is now used only where be ware would be a possible construction, viz. in the imper. (chiefly), the infin., and pres. subj. (rarely). The full evidence of these statements will be found under ware: the following quotations show the relations of to be ware, to ware oneself, ware thee, ware to thee, be ware to thee, beware thee, beware thyself, before 1500.
c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 5 [He] muneȝed us alle to ben warre þarof. a 1300 Cursor M. 62 He þat stitthest wenis at stand, Warre hym! his fall is nexst his hand. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 452 Ware þe fram wanhope wolde þe bitraye. 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xiii. 16 Be war [v.r. war] to thee, and take heede..to thin heryng. 1470–85 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 399 Be you beware also what ye do. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 11 b, Ware the of the wordes of lyers. 1483 Vulgaria abs Terentio 2 b, Ware thy hede thy handys or fete. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour G iv, A woman ought to beware herself.]
I. Without inflexions.
1. To be cautious or on one's guard, to be wary; to take care, take heed, in reference to a danger. a. simply.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17432 Bot we ne be-warr [Gött. be-war] wit-stand in time. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 34 Be ware, caveo. 1535 Coverdale Eccles. iv. 13 An olde Kinge that doteth and cannot bewarre in tyme to come. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 304 Shake off slumber and beware. |
b. with of (from, with, obs.): To be on one's guard against.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 547 Hii miȝte bewar of hor fon. c 1340 Cursor M. 4425 (Fairf.), Be-war of treson of womman. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 269 a, There are such malices from the which wee ought to beware. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. ii. 74 From Sophists we must altogether beware. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 128 ¶1 Men should beware of being captivated. 1712 Pope Rape Lock i. 114 Beware of all, but most beware of Man. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ix. (1852) 293 Let us then beware of self-deception. |
† c. with infinitive. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 292, I schal wayte to be-war her wrenchez to kepe. c 1386 Chaucer Truth 11 Bywar therfore to spurne ageyns an al. |
d. with clause: lest, that not, how.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §21 Let hym beware, that he trede not to moche vppon the corne. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 2 Cor. 53 Beware, leste your cleannes be defiled. 1770 Junius Lett. xli. 219 Beware how you indulge..your resentment. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 376 Beware lest..in thy mirth, Thou tell'st the story of thy love unseen. |
e. with simple object; = b.
| c 1500 Doctr. Gd. Servaunts in Anc. Poet. Tr. (Percy Soc.) 4 Beware that trayne, For it standeth in grete daungere. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iii. 7 Since I am a dog, beware my phangs. 1605 ― Macb. iv. i. 72. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 145 Ye Boys..Beware the secret Snake that shoots a Sting. 1842 Longfellow Excelsior vi, Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! Beware the awful avalanche! |
† 2. To take care, have a care of: a. with of. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 813 But euery wyf be war of hire biheeste [v.r. be ware, bewar]. 1611 Bible Ex. xxiii. 21, I send an Angel..Beware of him, and obey his voice. |
† b. with simple object. Obs.
| 1566 Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewel iii. 70 When the Fox preacheth, beware your geese. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iii. 47 Priest, beware your Beard, I meane to tugge it. a 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. xii. 136 Now, bishop, beware thy purse. 1713 Addison Cato iv. ii. 19 Have at thy heart. Juba. Nay, then beware thy own. |
c. with infin. or clause. arch.
| a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. xii. (1580) 80 Christ is sent unto us, let us beware that we receive him. 1599 Greene Alphonsus (1861) 245 Beware you follow still your friends advice. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 595 The more he varies Forms, beware To strain his Fetters with a stricter Care. 1860 [see II]. |
† 3. To take warning by. Obs.
| c 1500 New Notbr. Mayd 52 Beware by dedes dampnable. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 40, I beseche God..that all you may be wayre by me. 1581 W. Stafford Exam. Compl. ii. (1876) 65, I pray God this Realme may beware by that example. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 300 It is good to beware by other mens harmes. 1700 [see II]. |
II. As an inflected verb.
| 1598 Florio, Raueduto, bewared, espied. 1606 N. Baxter Sidney's Ourania K iij, Bewaring of too hot combustion. 1661 Milton Accedence Wks. 1738 I. 613, I had bewar'd if I had foreseen. 1672 Newton in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 316, I stirred them a little together, bewaring..that I drew not in breath near the pernicious fumes. 1700 Dryden Cock & Fox 799 Once warn'd is well bewar'd. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life i. (1861) 32 We beware to ask only for high things. 1870 Echo 17 Oct., Showing the greatest respect..and bewaring of the slightest insubordination. |
▪ II. † beˈware, v.2 Obs.
[First c 1400; f. be- 2 + ware v. to spend (still in every-day use in the north).]
trans. To lay out (money, etc.), expend, spend.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 636 Thus oght wyse men beware by folis: If so thow do thy wit is wele by waryd. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 262 If the clerk beware his faith In chapmanhode at such a faire. c 1460 How March. dyd Wyfe betray 244 in Hazl. E.P.P. 207 Yf thou thynke hyt not wele besett, Gyf hyt another can be ware hytt bett. c 1460 Childe of Bristowe 220 ibid. 119 He let never, til he had bewared alle the tresour his fader spared. 1472 Marg. Paston Lett. 689 III. 37 If ye bewar any mor money..I shall pait you ageyn. |