/biːð/
OriginFrom Middle English bethen, from Old English beþian, beþigean, beþþan, bæþþan (“to heat, warm, foment, wash, cherish; bathe”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþþjan, *baþigōn, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Middle Dutch betten, bessen (“to moisten with hot water, humidify”).
- dialectal, transitiveTo bathe (with warm liquid); foment.
“And in his hand a tall young oake he bore,
Whose knottie snags were sharpned all afore,
And beath'd in fire for steel to be in sted”
- transitiveTo dry or heat (unseasoned) wood for the purpose of straightening it.
Formsbeaths(present, singular, third-person) · beathing(participle, present) · beathed(participle, past) · beathed(past)