bedew, v.
(bɪˈdjuː)
Forms: 4–5 bydewe, 4–7 bedeaw, 5– bedew.
[f. be- + dew; cf. MHG. betouwen, MLG. bedauwen.]
1. pass. To be wetted with dew; hence active, To cover with dew-like moisture.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. ii. (1495) 468 Yf good londe is bydewed..it fattyth. 1665–6 Phil. Trans. I. 257 The outside of the Metalline Vessel will be bedew'd (if I may so speak) with..Drops of Water. 1706 Addison Rosamond ii. vi, In the dreadful pains of death, When the cold damp bedews your brow. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. ii. vi. (1851) 159 The moisture which bedews a cold metal or stone when we breathe upon it. |
2. transf. To wet or moisten gently or by drops; also, poet. or rhet., to perfuse with moisture.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. vii. 144 Þe fletyng reyne bydeweþ þe wynter. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (1495) 140 The ryver of Nyle that bedewyth and watreth the londe. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 53 As though it were bedewed..with honie. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 99 Bedew Her Pastors Grasse with faithfull English Blood. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 16. a 1674 Milton in Birch Milton's Wks. (1738) I. 43 That Herod had well bedew'd himself with Wine. 1746 Smollett Tears Scotl. 43 While the warm blood bedews my veins. 1864 H. Ainsworth Tower Lond. 363 Tears bedewed her cheeks. |
3. fig. To perfuse with any influence figured as like dew in its operation.
| 1340 Ayenb. 94 Þe virtues þet þe Holy Gost bedeaweþ myd his grace. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 301/4, I shalle arrouse and bydewe her body with so ardaunt desyre. 1639 Rouse Heav. Univ. iv. 33 When the soul is inwardly bedewed..by the Spirit. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 336 So did the Apostles bedew the souls of believers with the word of godliness. |