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  1. bespeak love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To be or give a sign of; indicate. See Synonyms at indicate.
  2. v. To engage, hire, or order in advance. See Synonyms at book.
  3. v. To request: bespeak a favor.
  4. v. To foretell; portend: fearful weapons that bespeak great loss of life.
  5. v. Archaic To speak to; address.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for: as, to bespeak a place in a theater.
  2. To stipulate, solicit, or ask for, as a favor: as, to bespeak a calm hearing.
  3. To forebode; foretell.
  4. To speak to; address.
  5. To betoken; show; indicate, as by signs.
  6. To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.
  7. n. Among actors in Great Britain, a benefit: so called from the bespeaking of patronage by the actors, or of the play by the patrons. See benefit, 5.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
  2. v. transitive To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order or reserve in advance.
  3. v. transitive To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.
  4. v. transitive, archaic To forbode; foretell.
  5. v. transitive, archaic, poetic To speak to; address.
  6. v. transitive To betoken; show; indicate; foretell; suggest.
  7. v. intransitive To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.
  8. n. A request for a specific performance; a benefit performance, by a patron.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time.
  2. v. To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate.
  3. v. To betoken; to show; to indicate by external marks or appearances.
  4. v. Poetic To speak to; to address.
  5. v. obsolete To speak.
  6. n. A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.)

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. be a signal for or a symptom of
  2. v. express the need or desire for; ask for

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English *bespecan, besprecan ("to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain"), from Proto-Germanic *bisprekanan (“to discuss, blame”), equivalent to be- +‎ speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke ("to beseech, speak or negotiate with"), West Frisian besprekke ("to discuss"), Dutch bespreken ("to discuss, review, debate"), German besprechen ("to discuss, review, talk about"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English bispeken, to speak out, from Old English besprecan, to speak about. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The public duties to which he was often called bespeak his ability, and the confidence reposed in him by the leading men of his day.”

    The Sermons of John Owen

  • “Ma’aruf was silent92 and did not again bespeak him till he reached the Desert Quarter and casting him down there, went away and left him in that horrible place. —”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “Both titles bespeak what our nation claims to stand for in education: a passion for imparting knowledge to all our children, equity for all students 'performance, and dedication and commitment from instructors to the ideals of universal education across the country.”

    Karen Symms Gallagher: Teachers Wanted: Our Ailing Education System Needs Quality Teachers with Staying Power

  • “bespeak" - "commission to be made," according to my Oxford dictionary-a burger.”

    *michael parekh on IT*

  • “It was Mr. Crummles 'habit to give a benefit performance, commonly called a "bespeak," to any member of his company fortunate enough to have either a birthday or any other anniversary of sufficient importance to challenge attention on the posters, and not long after Nicholas entered the company, this honor fell to the lot of one of the prominent actresses, Miss Snevellicci.”

    Ten Girls from Dickens

  • “And to come to a later instance, the reader may bear in mind that before that ornament of Mr. Crummles's company, Miss Snevellici, took her benefit or "bespeak" at the Portsmouth Theatre, she, in company with Nicholas Nickleby, and, for propriety's sake, the Infant”

    A Book of the Play Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character

  • “bespeak," that you can select and arrange to your own taste; that it is not "to take or to leave" at your peril and as it offers itself.”

    Matthew Arnold

  • “These tangible things bespeak an underlying reality.”

    Blind Faith?

  • “But Alder said the one-day spike in violence does not necessarily bespeak a larger trend.”

    The Washington Post: Three killed in weekend outbreak of violence in Southeast D.C.

  • “* But taking your own, perfectly good weapon, or a quantity of red pigment, or even a usable animal jawbone, and giving it away to be buried alongside a lifeless corpse seems to bespeak some sort of belief that the dead person is, or sometime soon will be, alive in some other form or some other place.”

    Simon & Schuster: In the Valley of the Shadow

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synonyms (8)

Words with the same meaning

  1. foretell
  1. indicate
  1. betoken
  1. show
  1. address
  1. speak
  1. engage
  1. order

rhymes (61)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Cheek
  2. Creek
  3. Dominique
  4. Greek
  5. Martinique
  6. Monique
  7. Mozambique
  8. Sikh
  9. Tariq
  10. Zeke
  11. antique
  12. batik
  1. beak
  2. beek
  3. belgique
  4. bleak
  5. boutique
  6. cacique
  7. cheek
  8. chic
  9. cleek
  10. clinique
  11. clique
  12. creak
  1. creek
  2. critique
  3. eke
  4. fleek
  5. freak
  6. geek
  7. greek
  8. leak
  9. leek
  10. meek
  11. misspeak
  12. mystique
  1. oblique
  2. peak
  3. peek
  4. physique
  5. pique
  6. reek
  7. respeak
  8. seek
  9. sheik
  10. sheikh
  11. shriek
  12. sleek
  1. sneak
  2. speak
  3. speake
  4. squeak
  5. streak
  6. teak
  7. technique
  8. tweak
  9. unique
  10. weak
  11. week
  12. weik
  1. wreak

reverse dictionary (9)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. bespoke
  1. bespoken
  1. bespake
  1. bespeak
  1. steven
  1. forespeak
  1. cite
  1. be-
  1. benefit

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‘bespeak’ has been looked up 2243 times, loved by 8 people, added to 21 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 15.