bethink

English

Etymology

From Middle English bethenken, bithenchen "to think about, consider" from Old English beþenċan, biþenċan "to think upon, remind, consider, remember" from Proto-Germanic *bi- + *þankijaną (“to think about”), equivalent to be- +‎ think. Akin to Old High German pidenchan "to bethink" (German bedenken "to bethink"), Gothic  (biþagkjan), Dutch bedenken "to bethink". More at be-, think.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɪˈθɪŋk/

Verb

bethink (third-person singular simple present bethinks, present participle bethinking, simple past and past participle bethought)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To think about, to recollect.
2. (pronominal) To think of (something or somebody) or that (+ clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 49:

     However, and just before I was due to take the entrance exam at the age of thirteen, my mother bethought herself that it might be worth taking a look at the place where I was due to be conscripted for the next five formative years.

3. to meditate, ponder; to consider
4. to determine, resolve

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

References

• bethink in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913