Dictionary

bethrow en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English bethrowen, from Old English beþrāwan (“to twist”), equivalent to be- + throw. Cognate with West Frisian bedraaie (“to cheat, deceive”), Dutch bedraaien (“to involve”), German bedrehen (“to heave to, come to”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To throw or twist about; throw off; torture.
   • Were I a flower what would I do, […] I would be growing to be Be made into a garland to To bethrow two people in a A bond of marriage or Or adorn, the neck of someone honoured at a drop of a hat. 2013, Amritpal Singh, Journies of Fledging Steps, page 34:
   • Gioseso, hauing prouided a good Holly-wand, went into the Chamber, where his wife sate railing, and despitefully grumbling, where taking her by the haire of her head, bethrew her at his feete, beating her entreamely with the wand. 1620, Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleasant Nouels:
   • O master heare you, you have made a fresh hand now, I thought you would bethrow you: what will you doe now? 2014, Paul A. Scanlon, Adrian Roscoe, The Common Touch: Popular Literature from the Elizabethans to the Restoration, →ISBN:

Forms