Meanings
adjectivebestraught (comparative more bestraught, superlative most bestraught)
comparative more bestraught · superlative most bestraught · alternative bestrought
- obsoleteDistracted; mad, distraught.
For, Belford ('tis folly to deny it), I have been, to use an old word, quite bestraught.
1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter DXII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC
Origin
From be- + straught (“stretched”), modelled after distraught, forstraught, etc.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
bestraught. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bestraught
MLA
“bestraught.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bestraught. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bestraught,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bestraught.
Source: bestraught on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.