Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To go about; encompass; surround.
  • To clothe; attire.
  • To surround or beset; affect as a circumstance or influence: now only in the perfect participle begone, in woebegone, beset with woe (originally in the construction him was wo begon, in which wo is the subject and him the dative object, subsequently made the subject).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete To beset, surround with hostile intent; to overrun.
  • verb obsolete To clothe, dress.
  • verb To affect, usually as a good or bad influence.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English begon, from Old English begān ("to go over, traverse, get to, come by, fall into, go to, visit, care for, cultivate, inhabit, occupy, surround, beset, overrun, practice, do, engage in, perform, attend to, be diligent about, honor, serve, worship, profess"), from Proto-Germanic *bi + *gānan, corresponding to be- +‎ go. Cognate with Dutch begaan, German begehen, Danish begå.

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