Standard Lemma guide

becalm

verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /bɪˈkɑːm/
  • US: /bɪˈkɑm/
  • US: /bɪˈkɑlm/
  • US: /bɪˈkɔm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːm
  • rhymes with -ɑːlm
  • CMU ARPABET: B IH0 K AA1 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To make calm or still; make quiet; calm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To deprive (a ship) of wind, so that it cannot move (usually in passive).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: nautical, transport

Examples

  • 1555, Richard Eden (translator), The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes by Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, London: Edward Sutton, “The seconde v[o]yage to Guinea,” p. 351, [...] there we were becalmed the .xx. day of Nouember from .vi. of the clocke in the mornynge vntyll foure of the clocke at after none.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

make steady

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • steady yourself

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: steady, calm

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: stabilize, stabilise

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h1épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h1epider. Proto-Indo-European *h1pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Old English be- Middle English bi- English be- English calm English becalm From be- + calm.