beworry

beworry

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ worry.

Verb

beworry (third-person singular simple present beworries, present participle beworrying, simple past and past participle beworried)

1. (transitive) To worry about.
2. (transitive) To fill with worry; cause to be worried; beset with cares; trouble; vex; harass.
   • 1845, Chambers's Journal:

     Is there a death ? — it is no easy matter for an editor to select from the bundle of elegies he receives. Is there a shipwreck or any great national event ? — and the poor beworried nine are called upon to inspire a thousand pens, [...]

   • 1887, James Henry Collens, Guide to Trinidad:

     Here the much beworried mamma will get a short respite from the ever-recurring bothers of household cares; [...]

   • 1920, Parliamentary debates:

     [...] and yet it is intended to establish a Convention, an extra-constitutional machine, to set all the machinery of a general election in motion again for the purpose of altering this much-beworried Constitution, [...]

   • 1921, Chance:

     "Franklin's grotesque mortal envelope had disappeared from the poop to seek its needful repose, if only the beworried soul would let it rest awhile. Mr. Powell, half sorry for the thick little man, wondered whether it would let him.

Usage notes

• Usually found in the past participle.

Derived terms

• beworried