Dictionary

besnow en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English besnewen, from Old English besnīwian (“to cover with snow”); equivalent to be- + snow. Cognate with Dutch besneeuwen (“to snow, snow in”), German beschneien (“to cover with snow”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To snow on; to cover with snow, or as if with snow.
2. (transitive) To scatter like snow.
3. (transitive) To whiten with snow, or as with snow.
   • Virgins of equall birth, [...] / Shall draw thy picture, and record thy life; / One ſhall enſphere thine eyes, another ſhall / Impearl thy teeth[,] a third thy white and ſmall / Hand ſhall beſnow, a fourth incarnadine / Thy roſie cheek, [...] 1640 (first publication), Thomas Carew, “Obsequies to the Lady Anne Hay”, in Poems, with a Maske, […], 3rd edition, London: […] H[umphrey] M[oseley] and are to be sold by J[ohn] Martin, […], published 1651, →OCLC, page 91:

Forms

Deriveds

besnowed