Meanings
verbbedaw (third-person singular simple present bedaws, present participle bedawing, simple past and past participle bedawed)
present singular third person bedaws · participle present bedawing · participle past bedawed · past bedawed
- ambitransitivearchaicTo awake.
That one halt and that other draweth, There is no day which hem bedaweth, […]
1857, original 1390, John Gower, Confessio Amantis, or Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins
Origin
- Middle Englishbedauen
- Englishbedaw
From Middle English bedauen, bedaghen (“to become day, dawn”); equivalent to be- + daw (“to dawn, to awake”). More at daw.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
bedaw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaw
MLA
“bedaw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaw. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bedaw,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedaw.
Source: bedaw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.