bestrew, v.
(bɪˈstruː)
Also bestrow (bɪˈstrəʊ), and bestraw (obs.). Pa. pple. bestrewed; bestrewn, bestrown. For the forms see strew.
[OE. bi-, bestréowian, f. bi-, be- 1 + stréowian to strew. Cf. MHG. beströuwen, Du. bestrooijen, Da. beströe, Sw. beströ. Orig. a weak verb: the pple. bestrewn is recent, and due to analogy.]
1. To strew (a surface) with; to cover more or less with things scattered about and lying flat. Often in pa. pple. as adj.
| a 1000 Job ii. 12 Ettm. 5. 38 Hi mid duste heora heafod bestreowodon. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 Heo..nomen þa twigga and..bistreweden al þane weye. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 889 On a floor with chaf bystrowed. 1555 Fardle Facions i. v. 75 They all to bestrawe the carckesse with salte. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Ind. ii. 42 Say thou wilt walke: we wil bestrow the ground. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece ii. iv. (1715) 231 Having bestrawed their heads with the Fruits of Ceres. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxii. 273 Yon' fierce man no more With bleeding Princes shall bestrow the floor. 1815 Wordsw. White Doe i. 140 The dewy turf with flowers bestrown. 1837 Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1871) I. 40 The brook is bestrewn with stones. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614) 131/1 The Kingdom of Scotland..every where bestrewed with cities, townes, and borrowes. 1660 T. Watson in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxii. 1 He who is pardoned, is all bestrewed with mercy. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. I. i. 30 His daily work thickly bestrewed with trouble and worry. |
2. To strew or scatter (things) about.
| 1667 Milton P.L. i. 311 So thick bestrown Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood. 1787 J. Barlow Hasty Pudding, The yellow flour, bestrew'd and stirr'd with haste. |
3. Of things: To lie scattered over (a surface).
| 1718 Pope Iliad ii. 266 Thin hairs bestrew'd his long misshapen head. 1794 Wordsw. Guilt & Sorr. Wks. I. 107 In a dry nook where fern the floor bestrows. 1832 H. Martineau Ella of Gar. vii. 83 To sweep away the sand and rubbish which bestrewed it. |