Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. Archaic To disclose or betray.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To accuse; malign.
- To reveal; divulge; make known; declare.
- To disclose or reveal (the identity or the secrets of a person) perfidiously or prejudicially; betray; expose.
- To reveal or disclose unintentionally or incidentally; show the presence or true character of; show or make visible.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive, obsolete To expose a deception.
- v. transitive, archaic To accuse; malign; speak evil of.
- v. transitive To reveal; divulge; make known; declare; inform.
- v. transitive To expose a person, rat someone out.
- v. transitive To divulge a secret.
- v. transitive To disclose or reveal (usually with reference to a person's identity or true character) perfidiously, prejudicially, or to one's discredit or harm; betray; expose.
- v. transitive To reveal or disclose unintentionally or incidentally; show the presence or true character of; show or make visible.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To soil. See beray.
- v. Obs. or Archaic To expose; to reveal; to disclose; to betray.
WordNet 3.0
- v. reveal unintentionally
Etymologies
- From Middle English bewraien, bewreyen, equivalent to be- + wray, from Old English wrēġan ("to accuse, impeach"), from Proto-Germanic *wrōgijanan, *wrōhijanan (“to tell, speak, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *were-, *wrē- (“to tell, speak”). Cognate with Old Frisian biwrōgja ("to disclose, reveal"), Old High German biruogen ("to disclose, reveal"), Modern German berügen ("to defraud"), Swedish röja ("to betray"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English biwreien : bi-, be- + wreien, to accuse (from Old English wrēgan). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Atli shall bewray thee, and cast thee into a worm-close, and thereafter shall Atli and his”
“But in thy love-making thou hast not bethought thee that keep her to thyself thou mayst not while I am above ground, save thou bewray me, and join thee to my foemen and thine.”
““Villain!” said Prince John, “thou wouldst not bewray our counsel?””
“Here comes the queen, whose looks bewray her anger:”
“Thereat laughed they all right jocundly only young Stephen and sir Leopold which never durst laugh too open by reason of a strange humour which he would not bewray and also for that he rued for her that bare whoso she might be or wheresoever.”
“O what an evaporation wherewith to bewray the masks or mufflers of young mangy queans.”
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
“Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.”
“Such as the murder of us twain may evermore bewray.”
“Thrasileon, the honour of our comfort, received his death so patiently, that he would not bewray the league betweene us, either by crying, howling, or any other meanes, but being torn with dogs and wounded with weapons, did yeeld forth a dolefull cry, more like unto a beast than a man.”
“Hide the outcast; bewray not him that wandereth.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bewray’.
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
blandish, blazon, blench, blendling, blendure, blewit, blunge, blype, borné, borsella, borzoi, boscage and 582 more...
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Belistful
Tubey or not tubey.
belittle, bedazzle, besiege, besmirch, bespeckle, beget, bemoan, befuddle, befriend, become, besot, becloud and 596 more...
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A Second Helping of Random Palavery
A continuation of my first list, "A Serving of Random Palavery". Like the first, this list contains words that catch my attention, ring happily in my ears, are fun to speak, or are interesting to ...
bouffoir, mossberry, webisode, barquette, brochidodromous, festooned brochid..., eucamptodromy, eucamptodromous, loment, keenings, moss-trooper, mosstrooping and 138 more...
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Rabelation
Words and phrases from Urquhart and Motteaux's matchless translation of Rabelais' "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (available here).
Make bold with suggestions down in the comment box.bum-gut, torchecul, septembral juice, turdy, linkie pinkie, neat's tongues, variorum, fanfreluches, well-mouthed wench, the close buttock..., rataconniculation, beeves and 300 more...
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King Lear
Some less-than-common words, significant themes, or excellent phrases from my favourite play.
moiety, brazed, champain, felicitate, interess, propinquity, betwixt, sith, forevouch, wat'rish, benison, ingraff and 111 more...
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Literarie: The Tragedy of Coriolanus
A play by William Shakespeare.
sufferance, cram, garner, embracement, freelier, mammock, cambric, stitchery, cloven, murrain, manifest housekeeper, a crack'd drachma! and 88 more...
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Freerice
katabatic, cozen, depurate, entelechy, torrefy, talion, spatchcock, springhalt, poleyn, syncope, leister, palladium and 51 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bewray.
bilby "VOLUMNIA: Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment
And state of bodies would bewray what life
We have led since thy exile."
- William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'. Aug 29, 2009