Meanings
present singular third person bedrives · participle present bedriving · past bedrove · participle past bedriven
- archaictransitiveTo drive or toss about; drive out, off, back, or away; defeat.
But when every human help ceased, that they might trust more to divine help, they then first began to fight against their foes, who for many years before harried and plundered on them, and they then made a great slaughter among them, and bedrove them home, and had a victory.
1852, Alfred (King of England), The whole works of King Alfred the Great - archaictransitiveTo effect; do; commit; perpetrate; experience.
And every man that standeth here would well bethink him what he hath done and bedriven in his days, he should the better have patience and pity on Reynart.
1889, Henry Morley, Early prose romances
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*bidrīban
- Old Englishbedrīfan“to drive; beat; strike; assail; follow up; pursue; surround; cover”
- Middle Englishbidriven
- Englishbedrive
From Middle English bidriven, from Old English bedrīfan (“to drive; beat; strike; assail; follow up; pursue; surround; cover”), from Proto-West Germanic *bidrīban, equivalent to be- + drive. Cognate with Dutch bedrijven (“to commit, perpetrate”), German betreiben (“to operate, conduct, pursue”), Swedish bedriva (“to manage, carry on, prosecute”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bedrive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedrive
“bedrive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedrive. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bedrive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bedrive.
Source: bedrive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.