Standard Lemma guide
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.
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verb
Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, literary, transitive, usually
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, intransitive, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: betime, come to pass, occur, tide, transpire, bechance, befall, behap, belimp, betide, beworth, chance, come about, crop up, evene, eventuate, go on, hap, happen, hold, pass, take place
Antonyms: none provided
verb
become of; happen to
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: befall, bechance
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place
History
From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh2- (“to divide, share”) or its extended form *deh2-y-, whence *dh2ítis (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).
Across languages
18 source translations are retained for this English entry.
