bedew

English

Etymology

From Middle English bidewen, bideawen; equivalent to be- +‎ dew. Cognate with Dutch bedauwen (“to bedew”), German betauen (“to bedew”).

Verb

bedew (third-person singular simple present bedews, present participle bedewing, simple past and past participle bedewed)

1. (transitive) To make wet with or as if with dew.
   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 412:

     Balm, from a ſilver-box diſtill'd around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and ſcent the ſacred ground.

   • 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC, stanzas XXXV–XXXVI, pages 18–19:

     As if their own indignant earth, / Which gave the sons of England birth, / Had felt their blood upon her brow, / And shuddering with a mother's throe, / Had turned every drop of blood, / By which her face had been bedewed / To an accent unwithstood, / As if her heart had cried aloud: […]

   • 1816 June – 1831 October 31, [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

     Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me.

   • 1836, Eliza Cook, "The Old Armchair"

     I LOVE it, I love it ; and who shall dare

     To chide me for loving that old Arm-chair ?

     I've treasured it long as a sainted prize ;

     I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs.

   • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:

     While sympathetic tears / My cheeks bedew

Derived terms

• bedewed

Anagrams

• bewed, dweeb

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Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛˈdɛw/

Adjective

bedew

1. beautiful