▪ I. beet
(biːt)
Forms: 1 béte, 4–6 bete, 5–7 beete, 6– beet.
[OE. béte, ad. L. bēta, whence also OHG. bieza (8th c.), MHG. bieze, MLG. and MDu. bête, etc. The plant was of early cultivation, and the name was adopted from Latin into the Teutonic languages, but though common in OE., no further mention of it occurs before c 1400.]
1. A plant or genus of plants (family Chenopodiaceæ), having, in cultivation, a succulent root much used for food, and also for yielding sugar. There are two species, the Common or Red Beet (Beta vulgaris), found wild on the British coasts, and cultivated in several varieties, both as an esculent, and as an ornamental foliage plant, and the White Beet (B. cicla), chiefly used in the production of sugar. Formerly almost always spoken of in plural ‘beets,’ like beans, pease, greens, etc. Now usu. in sing. form, but the pl. form is still current in the U.S.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 226 Þás wyrta sindon..éað beᵹeatra, béte and mealwe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxii. (1495) 616 Men may graffe on a bete stocke as men doon on a Caustocke. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 22 Erbys and gresse, both beetes and brake. c 1440 Promp. Parv, 34 Betys herbe, beta. 1551 Turner Herbal. (1568) F iij a, There are twoo kyndes of Betes, the white bete whyche is called sicula, and blake betes. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 173 If you would make choyce of faire beets, chuse rather the white than either the blacke or red. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs 47 Leaves, like those of the Beet or Winter-green. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet i. 249 Beets, emollient, nutritive, and relaxing. a 1772 Borlase in C. Johns Week at Lizard (1848) 185 One year nothing will grow but mallows, and the next nothing but beets. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1038 The beets should always be small, evenly sized, straight and even. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. v. 100 The wild beet and cabbage still grow on our sea-shores. 1883 Rep. Indian Affairs 17 (D.A.E.), They will raise about 100 bushels of beets. 1917 U.S. Dept. Agric. Yearbk. 405 The development of desirable strains of beets. |
2. Comb. and attrib., as beet leaves, beet-sugar; beet-grower, beet-growing; beet-root. † beet-raves [a. F. bette-rave ‘beet,’ lit. ‘beet-turnip’], the small red beet.
| 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 197 Beet-raves, or Beet-Radishes, that is, Red Beets, produce roots for Sallads. 1736 Bailey Housh. Dict. s.v. Beets, Beet-raves are made use of to colour wine. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 131 Leave on the bacon and beet leaves. 1833 R. Phillips Fam. Cycl. 230 The French..still persevere in manufacturing beet-sugar. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. in Amer. II. 55 The interest excited by this subject of beet-growing is very strong. |
▪ II. beet, bete, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(biːt)
Forms: 1 bóetan, bétan, 2–5 beten, 3–5 bete, 5–6 beete, 6– Sc. beit, 8– beet; (3 betten, 5 beton, bet, beethe, beytt). pa. tense bet: 1 bétte, 2–5 bette, 4 bett, bet (bete, beit). pa. pple. bet; 1 béted, 1–5 bet, 3–5 ibet, bett (4 bete, bette).
[Common Teut.: OE. bóetan, bétan, to make good, make better, amend = Goth. bôtjan, OS. bôtjan, MDu. boeten, MLG. bôten, OHG. buozzen, MHG. büezzen, G. büszen:—OTeut. *bôtjan to advantage, profit, be of use to, a derivative vb. from bôtâ- good, profit, advantage, in OE. bôt, boot, q.v. Now only Sc. and north. dial.; it became obs. in literary Eng. before 1500, while still spelt bete.]
I. To make good, amend, make amends for.
1. trans. To make good or better; to mend or repair (things damaged), mend or heal (wounds, sickness), improve (land). Still dial.
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. iv. 21 Þonan ᵹesægh oþre tweᵹen ᵹebroþer..boetende heora nett [Wyclif, makynge aȝein or beetynge her nettis]. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 398 Hu ðu meaht ðine æceras betan. Ibid. 116 Ðonne bið hit [the wound] sona ᵹebet. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 215 Mineȝeð þat ane niwe cloðes, oðer elde bete. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 7 Pipen he koude, and fisshe, and nettes beete. 1572 Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 247 The prouerb is, of palice, kirk, and brig, Better in tyme to beit, nor efter to big. 1808 Jamieson Sc. Dict. (Provb.) Daily wearing neids yearly beiting. [1873 Earle Philol §82 The fishermen of Yarmouth have sometimes astonished the learned..by talking of beating their nets (so it sounds) when they mean mending them.] |
† 2. To bring into better state, put right, correct, amend, reform (faults, evil ways, etc.); to make good (misdeeds): a. those of others.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 15 Gif ðec ᵹeheres, boetend ðu bist broðeres ðines. a 1000 ælfric Deut. i. 17 Ic hit bete. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. (1867) 113 Ȝif he hit [uuel] betan mei. a 1300 Cursor M. 9790 No patriarck ne ȝeit prophete, Miht be sent adames sine to bete. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 229 That thou woldest come to bete The sunnes that Adam thohte suete. |
† b. To amend, make good (one's own faults); hence, to repent of, make amends for, expiate, atone for (one's sin). The usual word in early ME.; afterwards superseded by amend. Obs.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. 220 Ealle scylda þe wið god beoð unᵹebetta. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom 169 Bute his sunnes him ben ere forgieuene · oðer bette. a 1250 Moral Ode 121 in E.E.P. (1862) 29 Hi mithten here sunne beten. Ibid. 138 And gunnen here gultes beten, & betere lif leden, c 1300 Beket 2417 And wende to the holi lond: here synnes forto bete. c 1325 Metr. Hom. (1862) 10 [Jon the Baptist]..taht the folk thair sine to bete. |
† c. absol. To amend, repent, Obs.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 223 For þi he [is] wis þe bit and biȝiet and bet bifore dome. a 1250 Owl & Night. 863 Vorthi he mot..Mid teres an mid wope bete. |
3. To relieve hunger, thirst, or any form of want; to supply wants, needs (Sc. misters). Hence subst. in comb. beet-need, beet-mister. Sc. and north.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3279 Sco þat sal bete me my thrist. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 224 No mon [schal] beete his hunger. 1513 Douglas æneis i. viii. 105 Grantit eik leif wod to hew, and tak Tymmer to beit ayris [= oars] and wther mysteris. 1816 Scott Tales My Landlord IV. 252 (Jam.) She enlarged on the advantage of saving old clothes to be what she called beetmasters to the new. 1823 Blackw. Mag. 314 (Jam.) If twa or three hunder pounds can beet a mister for you in a strait, ye sanna want it. 1875 Lancash. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Beet-need, a help that may be had at will. |
† b. To relieve, help, aid, assist (a person in need or trouble), to supply the wants of. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9592 And þi pite þat es sa suete Aght þi prisun [= prisoner] o bandes bete. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 756 My makelez lambe þat al may bete. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 86 Reson betith him so ofte tyme as he stondith ayens þe Synner. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 51 Who shall mee beete? who shall my bands breck? c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 18 With stuff of houshald strestely he thaim bett. |
† c. esp.: to bete one's bale (see bale n.1 6); also to bete one of one's bale (cf. sense 2). Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 105 Til all oure bale ai for to bete. Ibid. 14415 Þar he..o mani bale þam bete. c 1440 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 223 That was the angell to beton is bale. c 1460 Launfal 971 Sche myghte me of my balys bete. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 233 To beyt [v.r. bete] thar amouris of thar nychtis baill. |
II. To beet a fire.
[The development of this (the chief extant) sense, the antiquity of which is shown, not merely by the OS. f{yacu}r bétan, but by its existence in the other Teutonic languages (cf. Du. vuur boeten, LG. für böten, etc.), is somewhat obscure, from the fact that in the earliest instances it appears to mean, not ‘to mend a fire,’ but as in modern Dutch, ‘to make, kindle, put on a fire.’ Perhaps this is to be explained by the primitive conditions (which prevailed more or less till the days of phosphorus matches), according to which fire was not generated anew each time it was required, but was usually propagated by a ‘glede’ from an existing fire, often carried and kept alive for days (cf. Genesis xxii. 6), which was surrounded with combustibles, and ‘beeted’ into a blaze, when a fire was required.]
4. To make, kindle, put on (a fire). Now dial.
| c 885 K. ælfred Oros. vi. xxxii, Ða het he betan þærinne micel f{yacu}r. c 1325 Seuen Sag. (W.) 2122 The clerkes..bet a fir strong and sterk. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1012 When bryȝt brennande brondez ar bet þer an-vnder. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1434 Tuo fyres on the auter gan sche beete. 1430 Chev. Assigne 157 The goldesmyȝth gooth & beetheth hym a fyre. a 1500 Sir Aldingar 53 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 168 And fayre fyer there shalbe bett. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 127 Bad beit the fyire, and the candill alycht. 1875 Lancash. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v. Beet, Tha mun get up an' beet t' fire to-morn. |
5. To mend, make up, keep up, add fuel to, feed (a fire). Still in Sc. See also bote, fire-bote.
| 1205 Lay. 25977 His fur he beten agon. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 627 Quyl I fete sum quat fat þou þe fyr bete. c 1386 Chaucer 2nd Nonnes T. 581 In a bath thay gonne hir faste schetten, And nyght and day greet fuyr they under betten. 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 48 The wither'd twigs to beet her fire. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 262 A fire, that they keep beetin wi' planks and spars o' the puir man o' war. 1857 J. Scholes Jaunt to See Q. 14 (Lanc. Gloss.) Then aw beetud fire, un rattl't fire-potter ogen't back o'th grate. |
b. fig.
| 1784 Burns Epist. Davie viii, It heats me, it beets me And sets me a' on flame! 1787 ― Wks. III. 179 Or noble Elgin beets the heav'n-ward flame. |
▪ III. beet
variant of beat, bundle of flax.