besot, v.
(bɪˈsɒt)
[f. be- + sot; cf. assot.]
1. trans. To affect with a foolish, blinding affection; to cause to dote on; to infatuate with.
| 1581 Campion in Confer. iv. (1584) A a iiij b, He might be taken with the loue of his eies towards her, to be besotted with her. 1637 Heywood Dial. ii. Wks. 1874 VI. 118 It shall besot thee on some sordid Swaine. 1675 Art Contentm. viii. §5. 217 The kind aspects of the world are very enchanting, apt to inveigle and besot us. 1748–1864 [see besotted 1.]. |
2. To make mentally or morally stupid or blind; to stupefy in mind.
| 1615 Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T. iv. iv, Impiety is wont to besot men. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contempl. (1841) 231 Till they besot their understandings. 1822 Hazlitt Men & Mann. Ser. ii. v. (1869) 122 Such persons are in fact besotted with words. 1877 Sparrow Serm. xix. 249 To besot the minds of men with ignorance and superstition. |
3. To stupefy in the brain, make a sot of. (Said of narcotics.) Also absol.
| 1627 Drayton Agincourt, etc. 134 They no sooner tooke this drinke; But nought into their braines could sinke, Of what had them besotted. 1692 Tryon Good House w. xxvi. 209 Opium..stupifying and besotting them, even as the superfluous drinking of..strong Drinks does. 1755 Young Centaur ii. Wks. 1757 IV. 137 Pleasure..has an opiate in it; it stupefies, and besots. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. xiv, I besotted myself and gambled and drank. |