beath

Meanings

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

present singular third person beaths · participle present beathing · participle past beathed · past beathed

dialectaltransitiveTo bathe (with warm liquid); foment.
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
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
transitiveTo dry or heat (unseasoned) wood for the purpose of straightening it.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

foment

Origin

Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₁-“to warm”
Proto-West Germanic*baþþjan
Old Englishbeþian
Middle Englishbethen
Englishbeath

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”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →