bebother

present singular third person bebothers · participle present bebothering · participle past bebothered · past bebothered

1. transitiveTo bring trouble upon.

   At present I am all upside down—nohow—bebothered—& can only write this much.

   1908, Edward Lear, Letters of Edward Lear to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford, and Frances, Countess Waldegrave, page 114

   2 more examples

   “There is brass for all. Just home, paid off—and find my wife dead—and me saddled with the yowling kid. I’m off to sea again. Don’t see no sport widering here all bebothered with a baby.”

   1896, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Broom-Squire, published 1905, page 6

   ‘[…]But above all ... above all, you are the bewitching bebothering and bewildering Evita!'

   1990, Pieter-Dirk Uys, A Part Hate, A Part Love: The Biography of Evita Bezuidenhout, page 185

2. euphemisticimperativeDamn; curse.

   ‘Confusticate and bebother these dwarves!’ he said aloud.

   1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 1, in The Hobbit