Dictionary

bedraw en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /bɪˈdɹɔ/ (General-American)
• /bɪˈdɹɔː/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /bɪˈdɹɑ/ (cot-caught-merger)

Etymology

From Middle English bedrawen, from Old English bedragan (“to draw aside, seduce”), from Proto-West Germanic *bidragan, equivalent to be- + draw. Cognate with Scots bedraw, bydraw (“to draw aside, supersede”), Dutch bedragen (“to total, amount to”), German betragen (“to amount to”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal, rare, transitive) To draw aside or away.
   • Become, be with, be helping me; Bespouse, bedraw, be make-me see. 2010, Jordan Spencer Cunningham, Bobby Robertson, Timothy Brooks, The New Ipf Anthology of Fine Literature:
   • "Oh, how grand those rays! they seem to bedraw earth to Heaven!" 1875, THE BRITISH FLAC & CHRISTIAN SENTINEL:
2. (dialectal, rare, transitive) To draw away; seduce; deceive.

Forms