bizen

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English bysen, partly from Old English bȳsen (example, pattern, model, similitude, parable, parallel, rule, command, precept), and partly from Old Norse býsn (a wonder, a portentous thing), both from Proto-Germanic *būsniz (command, precept), from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (to ask, beg), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (to be awake, perceive fully). Cognate with Gothic 𐌱𐌿𐍃𐌽𐍃 (busns, command, order).

Pronunciation

Noun

bizen (plural bizens)

  1. (UK dialects, Northern England, Scotland, rare, obsolete) Something monstrous or portentous; a shocking sight; sorry spectacle; disgraceful thing.
    • 1823, Robert Anderson, Ballads in the Cumberland Dialect, page 155:
      She's a shem and a bizen to all the heale town.
    • 1866, Eliza Lynn Linton, Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg[1], page 97:
      [] and a bizen like this.
    • c. 1874 E. Waugh, Jannock ii. 13, as quoted in The English Dialect Dictionary and in the quotation, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1887), of J. H. Nodal and G. Milnar's Gloss[ary of the] Lancashire Dial[ect] (1875):
      It'll be a sham an' a bizen, if we cannot find him a menseful of a dinner.
  2. (UK dialects, Northern England, Scotland) Something serving as a warning or an example to be avoided.

Quotations

Anagrams