behave
EtymologyRelated terms Translations
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Etymology
From Middle English behaven, bihabben, from Old English behabban, from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- + have.
Pronunciation Verbbehave (behaves, present participle behaving; simple past and past participle behaved)
- (reflexive) To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
- You need to behave yourself, young lady.
- (intransitive) To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.
- He behaves like a child whenever she's around.
- How did the students behave while I was gone?
- My laptop has been behaving erratically ever since you borrowed it.
- (obsolete, transitive) To conduct, manage, regulate (something).
- (intransitive) To act in a polite or proper way.
- His mother threatened to spank him if he didn't behave.
- 2009, Roger L. Van Ommeren, From Rebellion to Submission, page 48:
- One time when Willie was more set on clowning than on learning about Jesus, Miss Helen ordered, "Willie Mack, you stand up against the wall until you learn to behave."
Conjugation of behave
- French: comporter
- German: benehmen, verhalten
- Italian: comportarsi, agire
- Portuguese: comportar-se
- Russian: вести
- Spanish: comportarse
- German: benehmen
- Italian: comportarsi bene
- Portuguese: comportar-se
- Russian: вести себя правильно
- Spanish: comportarse, portarse
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
