beath

English

Etymology

From Middle English bethen, from Old English beþian, beþigean, beþþan, bæþþan (“to heat, warm, foment, wash, cherish; bathe”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþþjan, *baþigōn, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Middle Dutch betten, bessen (“to moisten with hot water, humidify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biːð/
• Rhymes: -iːð

Verb

beath (third-person singular simple present beaths, present participle beathing, simple past and past participle beathed)

1. (transitive, dialectal) To bathe (with warm liquid); foment.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     And in his hand a tall young oake he bore,
     Whose knottie snags were sharpned all afore,
     And beath'd in fire for steel to be in sted

2. (transitive) To dry or heat (unseasoned) wood for the purpose of straightening it.

Anagrams

• bathe, behat