behave
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From late Middle English behaven (“to restrain”), equivalent to be- + have. Compare Old English behabban (“to include, hold, surround, comprehend, contain, detain, withhold, restrain”), Middle High German behaben (“to hold, take possession of”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
behave (third-person singular simple present behaves, present participle behaving, simple past and past participle behaved)
- (reflexive) To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way.
- You need to behave yourself, young lady.
- (intransitive) To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.
- He behaves like a child whenever she's around.
- How did the students behave while I was gone?
- My laptop has been behaving erratically ever since you borrowed it.
- (obsolete, transitive) To conduct, manage, regulate (something).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:
- who his limbs with labours, and his mind / Behaues with cares, cannot so easie mis.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:
- (intransitive) To act in a polite or proper way.
- His mother threatened to spank him if he didn't behave.
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to act in a specific manner
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to act in a polite or proper way
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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External links [edit]
- behave in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- behave in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
