Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To mean; signify; inform.
- To make mean; debase; lower: as, to
bemean one's self by low associations; to bemean human nature.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make mean; to lower.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
mean ;signify ;inform . - verb To make
mean orbase ,demean .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We belittle ourselves in the sight of God and men, bemean ourselves in the presence of the moral law, and stay more or less our progress in the great educational work of life.
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"Nothing of the kind," cried Lavinia, furious that her mother should think she would so bemean herself.
Madame Flirt A Romance of 'The Beggar's Opera' Charles Edward Pearce
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Many ports have a capital race-course, which is always circular in shape, enclosing what are generally the grounds of the recreation club, while almost every sporting man trains a pony or two, which he frets and fumes over in a style that would not bemean a Newmarket turf magnate.
Life and sport in China Second Edition Oliver George Ready
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Thomas gives warning because his master has given up reading prayers, and he can't bemean himself by "sayin '` Amen' to a governess."
Mr. Punch`s history of modern England, Volume I -- 1841-1857 Charles Larcom 1921
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They could scarcely believe that anyone so beautiful and dainty as Betsy Butterfly would bemean herself by robbing Farmer Green -- or anybody else.
The Tale of Betsy Butterfly Tuck-Me-In Tales Arthur Scott Bailey 1913
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"I wouldn't bemean myself," countered Horace loftily, and didn't.
Driftwood Spars The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life Percival Christopher Wren 1913
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He would bemean himself sufficiently to overlook Frau's caddishness.
Villa Elsa A Story of German Family Life Stuart Oliver Henry 1906
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To dream that you have a wooden leg, denotes that you will bemean yourself in a false way to your friends.
What's in a Dream: A Scientific and Practical Interpretation of Dreams 1901
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You and me's in different walks of life, and it's my bounden duty to see as you don't bemean yourself.
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The most loathsome reptile, rolling in the slush and slime of its stagnant pool, would not bemean itself thus.
Plain Facts for Old and Young John Harvey Kellogg 1897
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