• IPA: /bɪˈspiːk/

bespeak (bespeaks, present participle bespeaking; past bespoke, past participle bespoken)

1. (transitive) To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3, The Examiner, Number 44, page 244

     [They] bespoke dangers […] in order to scare the allies.

   • 2006, Janet Jaymes, Dirty Laundry: A Memoir:

     But to bespeak of a love, heavily weighed upon a heart, toward someone opposing those sentiments encourages foolish and embarrassing repercussions he will never know about.

2. (transitive) To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order or reserve in advance.
   • 1819, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

     concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favour

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House

     I walked on into the village, with the desertion of this house upon my mind, and I found the landlord of the little inn, sanding his door-step. I bespoke breakfast, and broached the subject of the house.

3. (transitive) To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.

   to bespeak a calm hearing;  I bespeak your patience in advance.

4. (transitive, archaic) To forbode; foretell.
5. (transitive, archaic, poetic) To speak to; address.
   • 1717, John Dryden, Metamorphoses

     He thus the queen bespoke.

6. (transitive) To betoken; show; indicate; foretell; suggest; allude to.

   This act bespeaks his kindness.

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], chapter 3, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗:

     When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the figure of a man that it bespake him rather a monster.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314 ↗, page 0108 ↗:

     This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.

   • 1921, Printers' Ink, Volume 114, Page 50:

     Are they telling your story vividly, strikingly, in designs that command attention, in colors that bespeak distinction?

7. (intransitive) To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.

• German: besprechen, diskutieren, mitteilen
• Russian: обсужда́ть

• German: vorbestellen, arrangieren, reservieren, buchen
• Russian: бронировать

• German: bitten um, erbitten, anfragen
• Russian: проси́ть

• German: vorhersagen, voraussagen
• Russian: предска́зывать

• German: ansprechen, sich richten an
• Russian: обраща́ться

• German: hinweisen auf, zeigen, anzeigen
• Russian: пока́зывать

• German: mitteilen, bekanntgeben, aussprechen
• Russian: восклица́ть

bespeak (plural bespeaks)

1. A request for a specific performance; a benefit performance, by a patron.
   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

     "By the bye, I've been thinking of bringing out that piece of yours on her bespeak night."

     "When?", asked Nicholas.

     "The night of her bespeak. Her benefit night. When her friends and patrons bespeak the play."

     "Oh! I understand", replied Nicholas.