His distant friends, he beckons near. Dryden.

It beckons you to go away with it. Shak.

Beckon

Beck"on, n. A sign made without words; a beck. At the first beckon." Bolingbroke.

Beclap

Be*clap (?), v. t. [OE. biclappen.] To catch; to grasp; to insnare. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Beclip

Be*clip" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beclipped ().] [AS. beclyppan; pref. be + clyppan to embrace.] To embrace; to surround. [Obs.] Wyclif.

Becloud

Be*cloud" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beclouded; p. pr. & vb. n. Beclouding.] To cause obscurity or dimness to; to dim; to cloud.

If thou becloud the sunshine of thine eye. Quarles.

Become

Be*come" (?), v. i. [imp. Became (?); p. p. Become; p. pr. & vb. n. Becoming.] [OE. bicumen, becumen, AS. becuman to come to, to happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piquëman, Goth. biquiman to come upon, G. bekommen to get, suit. See Be-, and Come.]

1. To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character.

The Lord God . . . breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen. ii. 7.

That error now which is become my crime. Milton.

2. To come; to get. [Obs.]

But, madam, where is Warwick then become! Shak.

To become of, to be the present state or place of; to be the fate of; to be the end of; to be the final or subsequent condition of.

What is then become of so huge a multitude? Sir W. Raleigh.

Become

Be*come", v. t. To suit or be suitable to; to be congruous with; to befit; to accord with, in character or circumstances; to be worthy of, or proper for; to cause to appear well; -- said of persons and things.

It becomes me so to speak of so excellent a poet. Dryden.

I have known persons so anxious to have their dress become them, as to convert it, at length, into their proper self, and thus actually to become the dress. Coleridge.

Becomed

Be*com"ed (?), a. Proper; decorous. [Obs.]

And gave him what becomed love I might. Shak.

Becoming

Be*com"ing, a. Appropriate or fit; congruous; suitable; graceful; befitting.

A low and becoming tone. Thackeray.

Formerly sometimes followed by of.

Such discourses as are becoming of them. Dryden.

Syn. -- Seemly; comely; decorous; decent; proper.

Becoming

Be*com"ing, n. That which is becoming or appropriate. [Obs.]

Becomingly

Be*com"ing*ly, adv. In a becoming manner.

Becomingness

Be*com"ing*ness, n. The quality of being becoming, appropriate, or fit; congruity; fitness.

The becomingness of human nature. Grew.

Becripple

Be*crip"ple (?), v. t. To make a cripple of; to cripple; to lame. [R.] Dr. H. More.

Becuna

Be*cu"na (?), n. [Sp.] (Zoöl.) A fish of the Mediterranean (Sphyræna spet). See Barracuda.

Becurl

Be*curl" (?), v. t. To curl; to adorn with curls.

Bed

Bed (?), n. [AS. bed, bedd; akin to OS. bed, D. bed, bedde, Icel. ber, Dan. bed, Sw. bädd, Goth. badi, OHG. betti, G. bett, bette, bed, beet a plat of ground; all of uncertain origin.]

1. An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.

And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed. Byron.

I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds. Shak.

In bed he slept not for my urging it. Shak.

2. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.

George, the eldest son of his second bed. Clarendon.

3. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground. Beds of hyacinth and roses." Milton.

4. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.

5. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.

So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed. Milton.

6. (Geol.) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.

7. (Gun.) See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed.

8. (Masonry) (a) The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds. (b) A course of stone or brick in a wall. (c) The place or material in which a block or brick is laid. (d) The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile. Knight.

9. (Mech.) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

10. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.

11. (Printing) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid. &hand; Bed is much used adjectively or in combination; as, bed key or bedkey; bed wrench or bedwrench; bedchamber; bedmaker, etc. Bed of justice (French Hist.), the throne (F. lit bed) occupied by the king when sitting in one of his parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a refractory parliament, at which the king was present for the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered. -- To be brought to bed, to be delivered of a child; -- often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son. -- To make a bed, to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order a bed and its bedding. -- From bed and board (Law), a phrase applied to a separation by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the wife, she may have alimony.

Bed

Bed, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bedding.]

1. To place in a bed. [Obs.] Bacon.

2. To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.

I'll to the Tuscan wars, and never bed her. Shak.

3. To furnish with a bed or bedding.

4. To plant or arrange in beds; to set, or cover, as in a bed of soft earth; as, to bed the roots of a plant in mold.

5. To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or inclosed; to embed; to furnish with or place upon a bed or foundation; as, to bed a stone; it was bedded on a rock.

Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded. Wordsworth.

6. (Masonry) To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed.

7. To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position. Bedded hair." Shak.

Bed

Bed (?), v. i. To go to bed; to cohabit.

If he be married, and bed with his wife. Wiseman.

Bedabble

Be*dab*ble (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedabbled (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedabbling ().] To dabble; to sprinkle or wet. Shak.

Bedaff

Be*daff" (?), v. t. To make a daff or fool of. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Bedagat

Bed"a*gat (?), n. The sacred books of the Buddhists in Burmah. Malcom.

Bedaggle

Be*dag"gle (?), v. t. To daggle.

Bedash

Be*dash" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedashed (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedashing.] To wet by dashing or throwing water or other liquid upon; to bespatter. Trees bedashed with rain." Shak.

Bedaub

Be*daub" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedaubed (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedaubing.] To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty.

Bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish. Barrow.

Bedazzle

Be*daz"zle (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedazzled (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedazzling ().] To dazzle or make dim by a strong light. Bedazzled with the sun." Shak.

Bedbug

Bed"bug` (?), n. (Zoöl.) A wingless, bloodsucking, hemipterous insect (Cimex Lectularius), sometimes infesting houses and especially beds. See Illustration in Appendix.

Bedchair

Bed"chair` (?), n. A chair with adjustable back, for the sick, to support them while sitting up in bed.

Bedchamber

Bed"cham`ber (?), n. A chamber for a bed; an apartment form sleeping in. Shak. Lords of the bedchamber, eight officers of the royal household, all of noble families, who wait in turn a week each. [Eng.] -- Ladies of the bedchamber, eight ladies, all titled, holding a similar official position in the royal household, during the reign of a queen. [Eng.]

Bedclothes

Bed"clothes` (?), n. pl. Blankets, sheets, coverlets, etc., for a bed. Shak.

Bedcord

Bed"cord` (?), n. A cord or rope interwoven in a bedstead so as to support the bed.

Bedded

Bed"ded (?), a. Provided with a bed; as, double-bedded room; placed or arranged in a bed or beds.

Bedding

Bed"ding (?), n. [AS. bedding, beding. See Bed.]

1. A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast; bedclothes; litter.

2. (Geol.) The state or position of beds and layers.

Bede

Bede (?), v. t. [See Bid, v. t.] To pray; also, to offer; to proffer. [Obs.] R. of Gloucester. Chaucer.

Bede

Bede, n. (Mining) A kind of pickax.

Bedeck

Be*deck" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedecked (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedecking.] To deck, ornament, or adorn; to grace.

Bedecked with boughs, flowers, and garlands. Pennant.

Bedeguar, Bedegar

Bed"e*guar, Bed"e*gar (?), n. [F., fr. Per. bād-āward, or bād-āwardag, prop., a kind of white thorn or thistle.] A gall produced on rosebushes, esp. on the sweetbrier or eglantine, by a puncture from the ovipositor of a gallfly (Rhodites rosæ). It was once supposed to have medicinal properties.

Bedehouse

Bede"house` (?),n.Same as Beadhouse.

Bedel, Bedell

Be"del, Be"dell (?),n.Same as Beadle.

Bedelry

Be"del*ry (?), n. Beadleship. [Obs.] Blount.

Beden

Bed"en (?), n. (Zoöl.) The Abyssinian or Arabian ibex (Capra Nubiana). It is probably the wild goat of the Bible.

Bedesman

Bedes"man (?), n. Same as Beadsman. [Obs.]

Bedevil

Be*dev"il (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedevilled (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedeviling or Bedevilling.]

1. To throw into utter disorder and confusion, as if by the agency of evil spirits; to bring under diabolical influence; to torment.

Bedeviled and used worse than St. Bartholomew. Sterne.

2. To spoil; to corrupt. Wright.

Bedevilment

Be*dev"il*ment (?), n. The state of being bedeviled; bewildering confusion; vexatious trouble. [Colloq.]

Bedew

Be*dew" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedewed (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedewing.] To moisten with dew, or as with dew. Falling tears his face bedew." Dryden.

Bedewer

Be*dew"er (?), n. One who, or that which, bedews.

Bedewy

Be*dew"y (?), a. Moist with dew; dewy. [Obs.]

Night with her bedewy wings. A. Brewer.

Bedfellow

Bed"fel`low (?), n. One who lies with another in the same bed; a person who shares one's couch.

Bedfere Bedphere

Bed"fere` Bed"phere` (?), n. [Bed + AS. fera a companion.] A bedfellow. [Obs.] Chapman.

Bedgown

Bed"gown` (?), n. A nightgown.

Bedight

Be*dight" (?), v. t. [p. p. Bedight, Bedighted.] To bedeck; to array or equip; to adorn. [Archaic] Milton.

Bedim

Be*dim" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedimmed (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bedimming.] To make dim; to obscure or darken. Shak.

Bedizen

Be*diz"en (?), v. t. To dress or adorn tawdrily or with false taste.

Remnants of tapestried hangings, . . . and shreds of pictures with which he had bedizened his tatters. Sir W. Scott.

Bedizenment

Be*diz"en*ment (?), n. That which bedizens; the act of dressing, or the state of being dressed, tawdrily.

Bedkey

Bed"key` (?), n. An instrument for tightening the parts of a bedstead.

Bedlam

Bed"lam (?), n. [See Bethlehem.]

1. A place appropriated to the confinement and care of the insane; a madhouse. Abp. Tillotson.

2. An insane person; a lunatic; a madman. [Obs.]

Let's get the bedlam to lead him. Shak.

3. Any place where uproar and confusion prevail.

Bedlam

Bed"lam, a. Belonging to, or fit for, a madhouse. The bedlam, brainsick duchess." Shak.

Bedlamite

Bed"lam*ite (?), n. An inhabitant of a madhouse; a madman. Raving bedlamites." Beattie.

Bedmaker

Bed"mak`er (?), n. One who makes beds.