betide
Etymology

From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- + tyden; tyden is derived from Old English tīdan, related to tīd (both ultimately either from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- or *dī-) + -an.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /bɪˈtaɪd/
  • (America) IPA: /bəˈtaɪd/
Verb

betide (betides, present participle betiding; simple past and past participle betid) (dated, literary)

  1. (transitive) Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC ↗, folio 46, verso ↗:
      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.
    • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC ↗, Act I ↗:
      Why, how now, countrymen!
      Why flock you thus to me in multitudes?
      What accident's betided to the Jews?
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii] ↗:
      More health and happines betide my liege, / Then can my care tunde tongue deliuer him.
    • 1808 February 21, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC ↗, stanza XXV, page 157 ↗:
      But woe betide the wandering wight, / That treads its circle in the night.
  2. (intransitive) Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.
    Synonyms: betime, come to pass, occur, tide, transpire, Thesaurus:happen
    • c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iii] ↗:
      If he were dead what would betide of me.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii], page 2 ↗, column 1:
      [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: […]
    • 1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter III, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC ↗, pages 107–108 ↗:
      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.
Conjugation Translations Translations


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