beshrew

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
I sidled over to a bench in the far corner and was feeling almost safe, when Pierre--beshrew him!--called attention to me Now, that is a heavy box for a maid to help lug.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb Archaic To invoke evil upon; curse.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Come, come,--beshrew your heart, you'll neither be good yourself, nor suffer others Pand. —  The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 06
  • I sidled over to a bench in the far corner and was feeling almost safe, when Pierre--beshrew him!--called attention to me Now, that is a heavy box for a maid to help lug. —  Helmet of Navarre
  • But I can pick out the real from a scene like that as I can pick out and throw away the seeds of an orange, and gazing o'er that enchanted scene I felt like the Knight of Snowdoun himself, when he first beheld the lake and said How blithely might the bugle horn Chide, on the lake, the lingering morn and then I went on with the lines until I came to Blithe were it then to wander here But now--beshrew yon nimble deer You'd better beshrew that steamboat bell," said Jone, and away we went and just caught the boat. —  Pomona's Travels A Series of Letters to the Mistress of Rudder Grange from her Former Handmaiden
  • She is a good Queen, and a generous; she gave the purse to the Earl of Leicester I envious?--beshrew thy heart for the word!" —  Kenilworth
  • Whereupon my armed guards--beshrew them for cowards!--straight ran away. —  The Adventures of Robin Hood
 

Tags

beshrew hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 57 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English bishrewen : bi-, be- + shrew, wicked person; see shrew.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English beshrewen, curse, pervert, from be- + shrew: see be- and shrew.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/bəˈʃru/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recently looked up

tac · radiometer · maurice · new-car · vomitus

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

spell it rite · britney · bunda · settii · aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile