Dictionary

bethink en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /bɪˈθɪŋk/

Etymology

From Middle English bethenken, bithenchen (“to think about, consider”) from Old English beþenċan, biþenċan (“to think upon, remind, consider, remember”), from Proto-Germanic *biþankijaną; equivalent to be- + think. Akin to Old High German pidenchan (German bedenken), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biþagkjan), Dutch bedenken.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To think about, to recollect.
2. (reflexive) To think of (something or somebody) or that (followed by clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
   • It was natural that in the hour of tribulation Lord Lambeth and Mr. Percy Beaumont should have bethought themselves of a gentleman whose attractions had been thus vividly depicted; […] 1878, Henry James, An International Episode:
   • Baſ[ſanio]. Be aſſured you may. / Iew [i.e., Shylock]. I will be aſſured I may: and that I may be aſſured, I will bethinke mee, may I ſpeake with Anthonio? c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 165:
   • However, and just before I was due to take the entrance exam at the age of thirteen, my mother bethought herself that it might be worth taking a look at the place where I was due to be conscripted for the next five formative years. 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 49:
   • Mens daily occaſions for themſelves or friends, and the neceſities of common life, require the doing of a thouſand things vvithin the compaſs of a fevv dayes, for vvhich it vvould puzzle the beſt Textman that liveth; readily to bethink himself of a ſentence in the Bible, clear enough to ſatisfie a ſcrupulous conſcience of the lavvfulneſs and expediency of vvhat he is about to do; […] 1634 August 31 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Robert Sanderson, “[Ad Clerum.] The Fourth Sermon. At a Metropolitical Visitation at Grantham, Lincoln, 22 August 1634.”, in XXXIV Sermons. […], 5th edition, London: […] [A. Clark] for A. Seil, and are to be sold by G. Sawbridge, […], published 1671, →OCLC, paragraph 15, page 65:
   • I heard the Sky-lark singing in the sky; / And I bethought me of the playful Hare: 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
   • He showed the two men from Vinland how to fit the rubber masks over their noses. “Bethink you to outbreathe through your mouths, and you’ll be fine.” 2013, Harry Turtledove & L. Sprague deCamp, Down in the Bottomlands: And Other Places, →ISBN:
   • Though eager to spring down the path and meet him, yet, amid all the forgetfulness of joy, she had bethought her of her aged parent, and returned that she too might share the happiness of their meeting. 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, Theresa, page 164:
   • One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding. 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 566”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
   • Having censured the circumcision, she bethought her of kindred topics, and asked Aziz when he was going to be married. 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC:
3. (intransitive) To meditate, ponder; to consider.
4. To determine, resolve.

Forms

Deriveds

umbethink · unbethink

Synonyms

cogitate · revolve · chew the cud · quander · chew · ruminate · mull · afterthink · introspect · reflect · call to mind · agitate · deliberate · consider · bethink · think over · ponder · rethink · think · reconsider · meditate · contemplate · overthink · muse · second-guess · mull over · chew over