beswathe

beswathe

English

Etymology

From Middle English *beswathen (“to becover”), from Old English swaþian (“to cover”), equivalent to be- +‎ swathe (“to becover”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bɪˈsweið/

Verb

beswathe (third-person singular simple present beswathes, present participle beswathing, simple past and past participle beswathed)

1. (Scotland, dated) to cover (something) (both literally and figuratively).

   A truth beswathed by the cover of lies.

   The night beswathed the sloomy holt with a pall of darkness.

   He had beswathed his bleeding wound with a tattered piece of cloth.

   • 1865, Thomas Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England: Being a Collection of Documents, for the Most Part Never Before Printed, Illustrating the History of Science in this Country Before the Norman Conquest, Volume 2:

     For a swollen soreː at starting one shall cure with onlayings, that is, external applications, and salves; the salve shall be of barley groats sodden in ley, and cluvers sharn wrought with honey, and then let one lay the salve on a hot cloth, or on a skin, or on paper, beswathe with that, the swelling soon becometh nesh and bursteth within.