bethink
English
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɪˈθɪŋk/
Verb
bethink (third-person singular simple present bethinks, present participle bethinking, simple past and past participle bethought)
- (obsolete, transitive) To think about, to recollect.
- (reflexive) To think of (something or somebody) or that (followed by clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
- 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 606515358, [Act I, scene iii], page 165:
- 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?
- 1634 September 1 (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 1227554849, paragraph 15, page 65:
- 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; […]
- 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
- I heard the Sky-lark singing in the sky; / And I bethought me of the playful Hare:
- 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 […], volume (please specify the volume), Shammar edition, [London]: […] Burton Club […], OCLC 939632161:
- 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.
- 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., OCLC 621012:
- Having censured the circumcision, she bethought her of kindred topics, and asked Aziz when he was going to be married.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, page 49:
- 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.
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- (intransitive) To meditate, ponder; to consider.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ponder
- To determine, resolve.
Derived terms
- unbethink
Further reading
- bethink in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913