Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To allow; permit; suffer.
  • To vouchsafe; accord; give.
  • To bring forth; produce; shed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To give ; to bestow; to grant; to accord; to consent.
  • transitive verb obsolete To allow; to permit; to suffer.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, rare To pour all about.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To bring forth; produce; shed.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To permit; allow; suffer.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To grant, vouchsafe (something to someone); accord; give.
  • verb transitive, dialectal To bestow; afford; allow; deign.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From be- +‎ teem (“to empty, pour”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From be- +‎ teem (“to produce”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From be- +‎ teem (“to befit”). Cognate with Dutch betamen ("to befit, behove, beseem").

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Examples

  • He would not 'beteem the winds of heaven' to 'Visit her face too roughly', Hamlet recalls.

    Shakespeare Bevington, David 2002

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