Dictionary

bedew en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English bidewen, bideawen; equivalent to be- + dew. Cognate with Dutch bedauwen (“to bedew”), German betauen (“to bedew”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make wet with or as if with dew.
   • As if their own indignant earth, / Which gave the sons of England birth, / Had felt their blood upon her brow, / And shuddering with a mother's throe, / Had turned every drop of blood, / By which her face had been bedewed / To an accent unwithstood, / As if her heart had cried aloud: […] 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC, stanzas XXXV–XXXVI, pages 18–19:
   • I LOVE it, I love it ; and who shall dare To chide me for loving that old Arm-chair ? I've treasured it long as a sainted prize ; I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs. 1836, Eliza Cook, The Old Armchair:
   • While sympathetic tears / My cheeks bedew 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • Balm, from a ſilver-box diſtill'd around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and ſcent the ſacred ground. a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 412:
   • Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me. 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VIII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 132–133:

Forms

Deriveds

bedewed · bedewer

Translations (1)

la arrōrō (to make moist as if with dew)