▪ I. bespeak, v.
(bɪˈspiːk)
Pa. tense bespoke, and (arch). -spake. Pa. pple. bespoken, bespoke. For other forms see speak.
[Com. WGer.: OE. bi-, besprecan = OS. bisprecan (Du. bespreken), OHG. bisprehhan (MHG. and mod.G. besprechen), f. bi-, be- + sprecan (specan) to speak. The connexion of the senses is very loose; some of them appear to have arisen quite independently of each other from different applications of be- prefix.]
I. intr.
† 1. To call out, exclaim, complain that. Only OE.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. x. §6 Hu unᵹemetlice ᵹe Romware bemurcniað & besprecað þæt, etc. Ibid. ii. iv. §7 Ond nu ure Cristne Roma bespricð þæt..etc. |
† 2. To speak up or out, to exclaim: orig. with some notion of objection or remonstrance; in later times, simply, to raise one's voice, to speak. Obs. or arch.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. 185 Than bispac Otous of Pavi, To Gii he bar gret envie. c 1440 Erle Tolous 877 Then bespake an olde Knyght, Y have wondur, be goddys myght, That syr Autore thus was bestedd. c 1500 Deb. Carpenters' T. in Halliw. Nugæ P. 17 Than be-spake the polyff With gret strong wordes and styffe. 1590 Marlowe Edw. II, iii. ii, The Earl of Pembroke mildly thus bespake; ‘My lords,’ etc. 1629 Milton Ode Nativity vi, Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 201 And thus the chief bespake. |
† b. quasi-trans. rare. Obs.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb., Whatever that good old man bespake. |
II. trans.
† 3. To speak against: to charge, accuse; oppose.
| a 1000 Laws of Ethelb. ii. 8 (Bosw.) Hit besprecen biþ. a 1000 Psalms (Lamb.) xliii. 17 (Bosw.) Fram stefne besprecendre. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1444 And sȝe ne bi-spac him neuere a del. 1297 R. Glouc. 524 He was of churche inome, tho clergie bispek it vaste. |
† 4. To speak about: a. To discuss, advise upon, determine upon. (Also intr. with inf. of purpose.)
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 91 Heo bispeken heom bitweonen þet heo walden ibuȝen. 1297 R. Glouc. 200 Þo þys was syker & byspeke. c 1300 K. Alis. 94 Wel thrytty ygedred beoth, And byspekith al his deth. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. ix. 250 She hathe traytted or bespoken for to make hym dey other by poyson or by som other secrete dethe. |
† b. To promise. Obs. rare. (Ger. versprechen.)
| c 1320 Cast. Loue 221 For so hit was to Adam bi-speke, And God nolde no forward breke. |
5. To speak for; to arrange for, engage beforehand; to ‘order’ (goods).
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (Arb.) 68 Theare doe lye great kingdooms..bespoken For the. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. iii. v. (Arb.) 46 A lodging bespoken for him..in Newgate. 1688 in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 367. IV. 143 The six thousand pair of Shoes which he bispoke at Exeter. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 16 ¶2 She bespoke the Play of Alexander the Great, to be acted by the Company of Strollers. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 2 His tradesmen..waited upon him to ..bespeak his custom. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §255 A new set of chains was bespoke. 1839 De Quincey Murder Wks. IV. 43 You may have..bespoken a murder. |
b. To stipulate or ask for (a favour or the like).
| 1677 Quest. conc. Oath of Alleg. 11, I must humbly bespeak your pardon. 1786 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 69, I bespeak, beforehand, a right to indulge my natural incredulity. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 54 With the view..of bespeaking a friendly reception for himself. 1846 Grote Greece II. xxiv. 572 Whose patience I have to bespeak. |
† c. To request or engage (a person) to do (something). Obs.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 233 Then fairely I bespoke the Officer To go in person with me to my house. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 35 Who I feared did come to bespeak me to be Godfather to his son. 1670 Walton Lives iv. 293, I must..bespeak the Reader to prepare for an almost incredible story. 1764 Smellie Midwif. III. 80, I was bespoke..to attend a woman in her first child. |
6. To speak to (a person), to address. (Now chiefly poet.)
| 1590 Marlowe Edw. II, i. iv, My gentle lord, bespeak these nobles fair. 1597 North. Mothers Bless. xiii, When folks thee bespeaken curtesly hem grete. 1677 Hale Contempl. ii. 124 From this high Mountain he bespeaks Mankind. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Luke xxiii. 31 These Christ thus bespoke: ‘Weep not for me, but for yourselves.’ 1725 Pope Odyss. xxiv. 508 Medon first th' assembled chiefs bespoke. 1870 Bryant Iliad II. xv. 75 The Father of immortals..Frowned upon Juno and bespake her thus. |
7. To speak of, tell of, be the outward expression of; to indicate, give evidence of.
| 1628 Earle Microcosm. 43 His very countenance and gesture bespeaks how much he is. 1671 J. Flavel Fount. Life viii. 20 Long preparations bespeak the..greatness of the work. 1778 H. More Florio ii. 184 Gorgeous banquets oft bespeak A hungry household all the week. 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. i. 855 But her house Bespake a sleepy hand of negligence. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. iii. 65 Hamlet's proneness to soliloquy bespeaks the reflective man. |
b. with compl.
| a 1704 T. Brown Pr. Drunkenness Wks. 1730 I. 31 Those whose smiling aspect bespeaks them friends. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) VI. xxxii. 356 Did that bespeak me cruel? 1815 Scribbleomania 18 Symptoms bespeaking me rash. |
c. To tell of or betoken beforehand; to prognosticate, augur.
| 1719 Young Revenge iii. i, Anguish, and groans, and death bespeak to-morrow. a 1745 Swift (J.) They started fears, bespoke dangers, and formed ominous prognosticks. 1851 Hawthorne Snow Im. (1879) 167 Circumstances that bespeak war and danger. |
† d. (as prec. with reverse construction.) Obs. rare.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. III. 511 My tongue is so farre from bespeaking such lands with any ill successe. |
† e. To bear witness, to declare to. Obs. rare.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 144 We have..only reason to bespeak us, that bulk has a least part. |
† 8. To speak (a person) into some state. Obs.
| 1604 Gallants at Ordin. 19 How a young fellow was even bespoke and jested to death by harlots. |
▪ II. bespeak, n.
(bɪˈspiːk)
[f. the vb.]
1. A bespeaking; esp. the bespeaking of a particular play to be performed; hence, a benefit night, when the actor's friends and patrons choose the play.
| 1807 A. C. Holbrook Memoirs of Actress 24 The first families in the neighbourhood, who had come to attend a bespeak that evening. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiv, On her bespeak night... The night of her bespeak. Her benefit night, when her friends and patrons bespeak the play. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am lii. 347 He had given his bespeak to the theatre, and Mr. Montmorency was to act Claude Melnotte. |
2. An application made to a lending library for the loan of a book when it shall become available.
| 1922 Glasgow Herald 28 Dec. 9 In the past year the number of ‘bespeaks’ was 4153, an increase of 650 on the previous year. |