besleep
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English beslepen, from Old English beslǣpan (“to sleep, sleep through, sleep over”), equivalent to be- + sleep. Compare West Frisian besliepe (“to sleep with”), Dutch beslapen (“to sleep with”), German beschlafen (“to lay with”).
Verb
[edit]besleep (third-person singular simple present besleeps, present participle besleeping, simple past and past participle beslept)
- (transitive, intransitive, reflexive, archaic) To sleep; have a sleep; sleep with.
- 1859, George Gilfillan, The poets and poetry of the Bible:
- Others are going about our streets, like well-meaning but beslept watchmen, calling the hours of midnight, while the morning is paling their lanterns.
- 1926, Blanche Colton Williams, Best American stories:
- He still beslept himself as we passed; he being a slumbersome person.
- 1973, Georg Peter Landmann, Stefan George in fremden Sprachen:
- He knows the last but whom the god beslept.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms prefixed with be-
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English reflexive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations