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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

bego en · NOUN · etymology 1

Etymology

From Middle English begon, from Old English begān (“to go over, traverse, get to, come by, fall into, go to, visit, care for, cultivate, inhabit, occupy, surround, beset, overrun, practice, do, engage in, perform, attend to, be diligent about, honor, serve, worship, profess”), from Proto-Germanic *bi + *gāną, corresponding to be- + go. Cognate with Dutch begaan, German begehen, Danish begå.

Meanings

  1. That which besets, surrounds, compasses, or affects; situation; circumstance.
    • “As I was passing by a vineyard on the Earth where some of mankind were taking their lunch, I heard them complaining and grumbling about these things they called 'ants'. Oh the woes and begoes of mankind,” smiled the good lord. 2011, Loretto Gubernatis, Dimitrius and the Gladiolas:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
begoes Number=Plur lexicographic

bego en · VERB · etymology 1

Etymology

From Middle English begon, from Old English begān (“to go over, traverse, get to, come by, fall into, go to, visit, care for, cultivate, inhabit, occupy, surround, beset, overrun, practice, do, engage in, perform, attend to, be diligent about, honor, serve, worship, profess”), from Proto-Germanic *bi + *gāną, corresponding to be- + go. Cognate with Dutch begaan, German begehen, Danish begå.

Meanings

  1. (archaic) To go about; encompass; surround; beset, surround with hostile intent; to overrun.
    • False love, I bego, I bego. Ere something still worse come down. 1892, Albany Law Journal, volumes 44-45, page 166:
    • Thy prysemen ar sore begone and put undir, for they ar oversette with Sarazens mo than fyve hondred. 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
  2. (obsolete) To clothe, dress.
  3. (qualifier:obsolete except in set phrases) To affect, usually as a good or bad influence, or as a circumstance.
    • He was woe begone.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
bewent Tense=Past lexicographic
begoes Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
begone Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
begoing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

umbego

bego en · VERB · etymology 2

Etymology

Back-formation from begone, originally an imperative but now an interjection, construed as a past participle.

Meanings

  1. (rare) To go away, to disappear.
    • “Begone!” I shouted. They bewent, asmirking, And I, awakening, fell straight aworking. 1911, Ambrose Bierce, “A Vision of Climate”, in The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, volume 5, page 199:
    • He bewent speedily, and as he vanished I heard him again calling, " Not she, not she ! Ha, ha ! " 1902, Carolyn Wells, Abeniki Caldwell, page 178:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
bewent Tense=Past lexicographic
begone Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
begoing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
begoes Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

bewend