Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE-STOW'ED, pp.

Given gratuitously; conferred; laid out; applied; deposited for safe-keeping.

BE-STOW'ER, n.

One who bestows; a giver; a disposer.

BE-STOW'ING, ppr.

Conferring gratuitously; laying out; applying; depositing in store.

BE-STOW'MENT, n.

1. The act of giving gratuitously; a conferring. God the father had committed the bestowment of the blessings purchased, to his son. – Edwards on Redemp. 372. If we consider this bestowment of gifts in this view. – Chauncey, U. Sal. 155. Whatever may be the secret counsel of his will respecting his own bestowment of saving grace. – Smalley, Serm. p. 37.
2. That which is conferred, or given; donation. They strengthened his hands by their liberal bestowments on him and his family. – Christ. Mag. iii. 665. The free and munificent bestowment of the Sovereign Judge. – Thodey. [Bestowment is preferable to bestowal, on account of the concurrence of the two vowels in bestowal.]

BE-STRAD'DLE, v.t.

To bestride. [See Straddle.]

BE-STRAUGHT', a.

Distracted; mad. [Not used.] – Shak.

BE-STREW', v.t. [pret. bestrewed; pp. bestrewed, bestrown. be and strew.]

To scatter over; to besprinkle; to strow. – Milton.

BE-STREW'ED, pp.

of Bestrew.

BE-STRIDE', v.t. [pret. bestrid; pp. bestrid, bestridden. be and stride.]

1. To stride over; to stand or sit with any thing between the legs, or with the legs extended across; as, to bestride the world, like a colossus; to bestride a horse. – Shak.
2. To step over; as, to bestride a threshold. – Shak. Bestriding sometimes includes riding or defending, as Johnson remarks; but the particular purposes of the act, which depend on the circumstances of the case, can hardly be reduced to definition.

BE-STRID'ING, ppr.

Extending the legs over any thing, so as to include it between them.

BE-STROWN', pp. [of Bestrew.]

Sprinkled over.

BEST-SPOK'EN, a.

Spoken in the best manner.

BEST-TEM'PER-ED, a.

Having the most kind or mild temper.

BEST-TRAIN'ED, a.

Trained in the best manner.

BE-STUCK', pp. [of Bestick.]

Pierced in various places with sharp points.

BE-STUD', v.t. [be and stud.]

To set with studs; to adorn with bosses; as, to bestud with stars. – Milton.

BE-STUD'DED, pp.

Adorned with studs.

BE-STUD'DING, ppr.

Setting with studs; adorning as with bosses.

BEST-WRIT'TEN, a.

Written in the best manner. Note. These and similar compounds explain themselves.

BE-SWIKE', v.t. [beswik'; Sax. beswican.]

To allure. [Not used.] – Gower.

BET,

the old participle of Beat, is obsolete or vulgar.

BET, n. [Sax. bad, a pledge; badian, to give or take a pledge; G. wette, wetten.]

A wager; that which is laid, staked or pledged in a contest to be won, either by the victorious party himself, or by another person, in consequence of his victory. At a race, a man lays a bet on his own horse, or on the horse of another man.

BET, v.t.

To lay a bet; to lay a wager; to stake or pledge something upon the event of a contest.

BE-TAKE', v.t. [pret. betook; pp. betaken. be and take. Sax. betæcan.]

1. To take to; to have recourse to; to apply; to resort; with the reciprocal pronoun; as, to betake ourselves to arms, or to action. It generally implies a motion toward an object, as to betake ourselves to a shady grove; or an application of the mind or faculties, corresponding with such motion, as to betake ourselves to study or to vice.
2. Formerly, to take or seize. [Obs.] – Spenser.

BE-TAK'EN, part. [of Betake.]