Emily Dickinson Lexicon

beckoning, verbal adj. [see beckon, v.] (webplay: head).

beclouded, verbal adj. [see cloud, n.]

Misty; tear-filled; [fig.] veiled; covered; unseeing; doubtful; uncertain; lacking faith.

become (-s, -ing, -th, became), v. [OE.] (webplay: come, friend, God, graceful, happen, living, new, person, soul, things).

1. Fit; agree with; be suitable for; seem proper to; be good for; be pleasing to.
2. Convert; recast; transform into.
3. Change to; come to exist as; pass on to; arrive at being.
4. Suit; complement; enhance; befit; look good on.
5. Phrase. “Become of”: befall; happen to (see Esther 2:11).

becoming, verbal adj. [see become, v.] (webplay: come, friend, matter, things, person).

Proper; suitable; befitting; pleasing; natural with character; adapted to circumstances.

bed (-s), n. [OE.] (webplay: garden, ground, lodging, pain, rest, sleep, stones).

1. Plot; patch; field; growing area; spot for planting; level piece of ground; (see Song of Solomon 6:2).
2. River; stream; course; passage; [fig.] vein; artery; channel for blood; [fig.] canvas; place for color to run.
3. Berth; bunk; cot; mattress and linens; furniture for sleep; permanent physical structure for sleeping; [fig.] burial preparation; (see Genesis 47:31).
4. Resting place; [fig.] tomb; grave; sepulcher; burial chamber; (see 2 Chronicles 16:14).
5. Field; area; domain; repository; [fig.] resting place.
6. Pile; mass; dark border; soft brown frame.

bedeck (-ed), v. [Dutch dekken; see deck, v.] (webplay: cover).

Adorn: dress; clothe; garnish; decorate; ornament; [fig.] plant; scatter; spread; sow.

bedtime, n. [see bed, n. and time, n.]

Night; moment to go to rest; usual hour for sleeping; [fig.] death; dormant period; latent interval of blooming plants.

bee (-s, -'s), n. [OE béo; see bumble bee, n.] (webplay: aid, bag, barbed, bread, brush, convey, earliest, flowers, hairs, honey, individuals, insect, joint, laborers, last, man, need, neighbors, new, overstocked, person, process, queen, settles, sting, supposed, working bee).

1. Entity; creature; part of existence [word play on “be”.]
2. Apis; small buzzing insect; neuter hive worker that gathers honey, collects pollen, and produces wax cells for honey storage; (see Judges 14:8).
3. Paradox; puzzle; contradiction of pleasure and pain.
4. Phrase. “Busy bee”: diligent person; industrious child; [quoted from children's hymn by Isaac Watts “Against Idleness and Mischief”; Anne Brontë quotes the first line in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.]
5. Phrase. “Bumble bee”: heavy-laden winged insect; large buzzing flower-loving species of the apis.

been, v. [see be, v.; past participle form of the “be” verb, used for perfect aspect and passive voice verb phrases.]

1. [Had + past participle of the lexical verb “be” for the past perfect aspect] measured.
2. [Had + past participle of the lexical verb “be” for the past perfect aspect] appeared as; acted as.
3. [Modal + have + past participle of the auxiliary verb “be” for the present perfect passive aspect.]
4. [Has/have + past participle of the lexical verb “be” for the present perfect aspect] happened; occurred; come to pass.

beetle (-s, -'s), n. [OE bitula < bitan, bite.]

1. Scarab; coleoptera; long brown bug; elongated insect that has antennae, barbed legs, and a hard case for wings; (see Leviticus 11:22).
2. Small creature; lower order living thing; [fig.] dull one; person in mental darkness.