beseechful

comparative more beseechful · superlative most beseechful

1. Having a pleading, begging quality; beseeching, suppliant.

   A man behind me sez beseechful an' in a whisper:—"Let me get at thim! For the love av Mary give me room beside ye, ye tall man!"

   1896, Rudyard Kipling, Soldier Stories

   4 more examples

   Pavel Alexandrovitch immediately turned to Zina. He was in a state of great agitation; his voice shook. “Zenaida Afanassievna, are you angry with me?” he began, in a timid, beseechful tone. “With you? Why?” asked Zina, blushing a little, and raising her magnificent eyes to his face.

   1888, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Uncle's Dream; and The Permanent Husband

   When they were gone and the present stood speechful, / Ardent with word and with look and with kiss, / What though we know that their eyes are beseechful, / These were no joys to this.

   1891, Madison Julius Cawein, Days and Dreams

   Often before, when standing alone among ruins, have I felt this spirit of supplication, and seen this strange, beseechful look, in the silent, patient stones: never before had it appealed to my heart with such eloquence and such pathos.

   1896, William Winter, Gray Days and Gold

   Then his face assumed a beseechful, maudlin expression, and he said that he had done as the gentleman desired, but if the gentleman considered it worth a gratuity that he should have safely preserved this box until the gentleman came for it, why— "Tell him to go to the deuce," said Jack; "and wait there till we see what's in it and what isn't. Here, Peter; it's yours—examine."

   1910, Frederick Whishaw, Clutterbuck's Treasure