betide

Definition of betide

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

(dated, literary, transitive)Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.

“Why wayle we then? why weary we the Gods with playnts, / As if ſome euill were to her betight? / She raignes a goddeſſe now emong the ſaintes, / That whilome was the ſaynt of ſhepheardes light: / And is enſtalled nowe in heauens hight.”
“Why, how now, countrymen! Why flock you thus to me in multitudes? What accident's betided to the Jews?”
“More health and happines betide my liege, / Then can my care tunde tongue deliuer him.”
“But woe betide the wandering wight, / That treads its circle in the night.”
“Ill betide those foul birds that delight to file their own nest, and disgust the ear with perpetual discord of ill-omened croak.”

See all 2 definitions

verb

(dated, literary, transitive)Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.

“Why wayle we then? why weary we the Gods with playnts, / As if ſome euill were to her betight? / She raignes a goddeſſe now emong the ſaintes, / That whilome was the ſaynt of ſhepheardes light: / And is enſtalled nowe in heauens hight.”
“Why, how now, countrymen! Why flock you thus to me in multitudes? What accident's betided to the Jews?”
“More health and happines betide my liege, / Then can my care tunde tongue deliuer him.”
“But woe betide the wandering wight, / That treads its circle in the night.”
“Ill betide those foul birds that delight to file their own nest, and disgust the ear with perpetual discord of ill-omened croak.”
(dated, intransitive, literary)Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.

“If he were dead what would betide of me.”
“[W]ipe thou thine eyes, haue comfort, / The direfull ſpectacle of the wracke which touch'd / The very vertue of compaſſion in thee: / I haue with ſuch prouiſion in mine Art / So ſafely ordered, that there is no ſoule / No not ſo much perdition as an hayre / Betid to any creature in the veſſel / Which thou heardſt cry, which thou ſaw'ſt ſinke: […]”
“The death of my ſon betiding while my ſoul was under this anxiety, I thought of nothing but reſigning my dominions, and retiring for ever from the ſight of mankind.”
“Be not dismayed whate'er betide, / God will take care of you; / Beneath his wings of love abide, / God will take care of you.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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”).

Anagrams of betide

2 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from betide

37 playable · top: BEEDI (8 pts)

Best play beedi 8 points

5-letter words

2 words

4-letter words

12 words

3-letter words

13 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to betide to make another valid word.